Monthly Archives: January 2010

“Answering the Call”

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Here is the message that I presented at Tompkins Corners UMC on the 2nd Sunday after Epiphany, 18 January 2004.  The Scriptures for this Sunday were Isaiah 62: 1 – 5; 1 Corinthians 12: 1 – 11, and John 2: 1 – 11.

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By now you know that I got my doctorate for the University of Iowa and that my undergraduate degree was from Truman State University. To fill in the blanks, I would add that I hold a Masters in Education from the University of Missouri and that I graduated from Nicholas Blackwell High School in 1968.

Now, I am not sure that even my classmates would immediately identify the name of their high school alma mater. For the most part, we said we went to Bartlett High School and today that is the name on the building. In the papers, especially the sports section, we were identified as Memphis Bartlett, even though we were not part of Memphis or the Memphis City School system. But we were from Memphis, even if we did not want to admit it.

Your senior year in high school is supposed to be the greatest year of your life. It is the last year of innocence and freedom, just before you step into the world of work or go off to college. It is supposed to be a year of celebration. I say that because it seemed that there were no celebrations for the class of 1968. Yes, the football team had a winning season, going 5 and 4 after a dismal 1 and 8 performance the year before. But Bartlett wasn’t a football school; it was a basketball school and with a front line of 7′ 0", 6’6", and 6’4 and an all-state guard, we were looking to a banner year. The sports writers felt we were the best because they voted us the number 1 team in the state. But we lost in the regional tournament and two years of success were washed down the drain by loses before we even got to state. (It should be noted that in 2000, the Bartlett Panthers won the Tennessee State Basketball Championship, but that is of little consolation to those of us who saw glory in 68). Even the band had an off year. The year before the band accomplished a feat that no other Bartlett band had ever done; we won a band contest. In an environment where our forty-eight member marching band had to compete against bands with ninety-six and one hundred and twenty members, we actually won. But they changed the rules of the competition in our senior year and we returned to the ranks of also performing. The evening of our graduation was to be a night of dancing and celebration on the Mississippi River but it rained and the traditional senior party never really developed as it had for countless other Memphis high school graduating classes.

And there was another event in 1968 that tempered the celebration of a senior year. It was the same event for all the graduating classes, be they in Shelby County, Tennessee or here in Putnam County, New York. But it was a little different because it happened in Memphis and we lived in Memphis. Martin Luther King was shot to death in Memphis.

Dr. King came to Memphis to aid the sanitation workers in the fight for better working conditions. It is my understanding today that he initially didn’t want to come to Memphis; he was working on something bigger and he did not want to be taken away from those plans. But it was pointed out to him that you could not work on the grander and much broader plans if you ignored the small details. So he came; perhaps reluctantly, but he came.

Now I will admit that back then the situation involving the sanitation workers was not one of my priorities. My mind and heart were some 700 miles away in Kirksville; all I could think about during my two years at Bartlett was the return each summer to Kirksville and the college career that was developing for me there. I can also say that I have no idea what any of my white classmates were thinking in those days prior to Dr. King’s death. Some, I am sure, were totally unaware of what was going on; others, perhaps in the majority, thought Dr. King had no business coming to Memphis and "meddling" in a Memphis matter.

I do know that ours was a society split by race. The divisions were evident in everything we did in school. It was not just that we were the number one basketball team in the state; we were the best white team in the state (even if we had one black player on the team and whose presence was, I have always felt, arranged in defiance of eligibility rules). At that time, no Memphis area basketball team had won the state championship; in our junior year, they paired us against Carver High School with the winner going to the State Championship tournament. We could have both gone and improved the chances of a Memphis team winning. But the "powers that be" deemed that Bartlett should play Carver before the state tournament in order to prove a long forgotten point of pride. We lost that game, ending our season. It wasn’t all that bad a defeat; the nucleus of the Carver High School team went to the University of Memphis and in 1972 lost to UCLA in the finals of the NCAA tournament in St. Louis. But it was still a defeat and it ended a good season on a sour note.

In sports and society Memphis was a divided city then and it is not much better now. Race, culture, creed, and economic status divided this country in 1968; and today, we are not much better off. We still see people oppressed because of who they are, what they believe, or where they live. The problems of the world make the words of Isaiah that much more prophetic. We cannot stand silent and stand by when others persecute or victimize someone else.

If we are who we say we are, then we can never lose sight of the fact that what Jesus preached, that his kingdom was open to all, his kingdom of spirit and truth was the mortal enemy of systems built on power, greed, oppression, and falsehood.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus stood before the people and listed the Beatitudes. He said, "the merciful are partaking of the divine, for they shall receive mercy." We often see mercy as what one in power might extend to a victim in return for gratitude or service. We want our expressions of mercy to make us feel good; we want the recipient to be beholden to us. But that makes mercy cold and condescending.

Jesus made mercy warm and compassionate. As He expressed it, mercy was given but never bartered, never exchanged for something else. Mercy no longer was the act of pitching a coin to a beggar on the street but rather a new attitude towards life. The merciful will no longer see the beggar as a victim but as a brother or sister with whom life is to be shared.

But the sharing of physical resources will always be limited. And the merciful know this. They know that the physical things that they can give will eventually be used up. But the hunger and the thirst will never go away until the soul is fed and its thirst is quenched. Those who have expressed the hunger and thirsting of the soul know this best and they know that they, having been filled and given the water from the well of life to drink, have greater and truer riches.

But if they keep this spiritual richness hidden; in other words, if they see the beggar as the victim to give things to, then they will ultimately lose the riches they tried so long to find. John the Evangelist wrote, "Whoever has the physical necessities of life and sees his brother standing in need and locks the door of his heart against him, how can the love of God stay in him?" (1 John 3: 17)

You will note that today I have changed the order of the worship service around a bit. The order that we follow each Sunday follows what the order of worship that I grew up and have used ever since I started preaching. It puts the offering first and allows the preacher to open the altar rail following the sermon. But the outline of the basic service given in our hymnal on page 4 puts the offering after the sermon, as a response to word.

If we see the offering as solely a financial thing, then perhaps it is better if we do not even have an offering. Those offerings do not give of our selves. Some may only be able to give financially and we cannot ignore that; but there are other expressions, other ways of responding to the Word and we have to explore those ways. In writing to the Corinthians, Paul pointed out that while there was only one Spirit, there were many ways in which the Spirit could manifest itself. The gifts that we receive and the ways in which we use those gifts are not decided by someone else, but by how we individually react to the presence of the Spirit in our lives. Some may give of their talents and gifts through the proclamation of the Word, others through teaching; still others by working with others.

But the fact is that we cannot wait until some great and unseen sign appears before us to use those gifts. Jesus went with his mother to a wedding. Weddings then were multi-day affairs. How the wedding was catered was an expression of the financial status of the bride and groom; to run out of wine early in the celebration, as was indicated in the Gospel story, was a major social faux pax.

It may have been that Martin Luther King did not want to go to Memphis; but the situation and the cause demanded his presence. It may be that my mind was elsewhere when I was a senior in high school; but the Lord has asked me to do his work now. Jesus did not want to do as His mother wanted him, saying that it wasn’t time. Maybe He felt that being among friends and relatives were neither the time and place; but he did as his mother asked and the water was changed to wine. He was not being selfish or showing off; the people didn’t even know what he had done. But the work of the Lord, the presence of the Lord is never dictated by time or place. The presence of the Kingdom of Heaven was first expressed among friends and family.

God’s call will come to you in much the same manner. God will not ask you to do great things on the world stage; He may simply want you to make a phone call to friend you haven’t seen in a long time. He may want you to write to a few people who haven’t been to church in quite some time. The call will come in a way that can never be expected. It is clear from the reading of the Gospel that the steward overseeing the wedding feast did not expect such a good wine.

So God is calling you and today is your chance to answer the call.

"Just Doing It Doesn’t Require a New Pair of Shoes”

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Here is the message that I presented at Walker Valley UMC on the 2nd Sunday after Epiphany, 14 January 2001.  The Scriptures for this Sunday were Isaiah 62: 1 – 5; 1 Corinthians 12: 1 – 11, and John 2: 1 – 11.

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When I started attending Truman State University back in 1966, the first thing that I did was transfer my membership from Wright City United Methodist Church to First United Methodist Church of Kirksville. Now, in retrospect, that may have been a little presumptuous of me to do so. Neither my family nor I had any idea at that time that I would stay in the Kirksville area beyond those first three summer months of my college career. But at the time, it seemed a most reasonable decision.

It should be noted that my decision to join 1st UMC was also a practical one. Given a choice, I would have rather attended Faith Evangelical United Brethren Church. Remember this was two years before the merger of the Methodist and EUB churches and though I was a Methodist, it was because I had transferred my membership from the Evangelical United Brethren church. In my heart I was still an EUB and that was where I really wanted my membership.

But as a fifteen-year-old without a driver’s license, let alone a car, if I wanted to go anywhere in the town of Kirksville, I had to walk. And from what I knew about the town of Kirksville, the walk from the dormitories on campus to Faith church was more of a country hike. So, for practical reasons, I attended 1st UMC, even if my heart wanted me to go to the smaller country church.

Some twenty years later, when I was living in Minnesota and just beginning my lay speaking activities at Grace UMC, I had the opportunity to preach at Faith Church, now a part of the UMC connection. I pointed out at that time that I was able to come to Faith through Grace and then I related the story about that first summer. After the service, a member of the congregation who had been a member back then came up to me and said, "You could have called. We would have been glad to come and get you."

It may seem like a little thing but the simple act of choosing a church to be a member of can have lasting consequences. Going to 1st Church gave me the opportunity to meet Dr. Meredith Eller, who along with his wife sponsored me as I joined the church. Dr. Eller was the professor from whom I would take all of my history courses and later serve as a councilor during times of crisis. When I got to see him in his academic robes, I kidded him about how frayed and worn they looked especially when you compared them with the robes of his other academic colleagues. It was then that I learned that Dr. Eller was not only a history professor but also a member of the United Methodist Clergy, serving many of the smaller churches around Kirksville. His robes were frayed because they were working robes, not the traditional ceremonial robes of academia. And today you know what the results of that first encounter with a Methodist circuit rider back then, subtle and unstated as it was, are.

We all have choices to make. Our whole culture is based on the idea of the choices we make. And it is implied in the messages we hear that the choices we make will decide the type of life we will live. To many in school today, life is not about the grades you make or what you learn but rather what you are wearing or what you listen to.

Even Jesus had to make choices. After John baptized Him, Jesus spent the forty days in the wilderness where the devil tempted Him. It would have been quite easy for Jesus to have forsaken all that was before Him and taken the devil’s offer of power and glory. But the power and the glory that devil offered could never match the power and the glory of God’s kingdom and Jesus chose to take the path that lead to Calvary.

At the wedding feast in Cana, the subject of the Gospel reading for today, Jesus had to make a choice as well.

Mary’s forwardness in asking Jesus to help when the wine ran out would suggest that she was in some way related to the family holding the wedding. Jesus and the disciples were there probably because Mary was there..

Hospitality then was a sacred duty. A wedding feast often lasted for a week and to run out of wine at such an important event would have been humiliating for both the bride and the groom. It is likely that neither they nor their families were wealthy and thus, the feast was a "low-budget" one.

Though at first reading it doesn’t seem so, Jesus’ response of "Woman" was one of respectful address. But He was simply stating that now was not the time for public miracles. But while His response would seem to have indicated that he wasn’t going to do anything about it, her actions seem to say that she did expect Him to do something.

This is an interesting passage. It is one of the most frequently mentioned, yet most neglected, stories of Jesus. For one thing it gives us an insight into the relationship between a mother and her son. She asks him to help. He at first hesitates and seems to refuse. She persists, and in the end, Jesus chose to perform his first miracle.

Isaiah’s message was also about choice. Isaiah pointed out to the people of Israel that God chose them. They weren’t picked out because they were the most wonderful people on the earth but rather because they were among the lowliest. And in a time of the Babylonian exile, a time of rejection and humiliation, God reminded them that there would be a time of great celebration and rejoicing.

Paul wrote about choosing and the results of those choices. Paul indicated that if the Corinthians chose to worship other idols, they could not expect much. For the idols that they might pray to were incapable of answering. But if the Corinthians chose to follow Jesus and to accept the Holy Spirit, then many gifts could be expected.

The gifts that Paul refers to are the capacities, spiritual and otherwise, that God gives each of us. It is important to note that Paul speaks of the many ways that the Spirit can be used in us, yet it is the same Spirit that unifies us. But the skills and gifts that are given cannot be given unless we allow the Spirit to come into our lives.

One of the early Nike advertisements for their "Air Jordan" shoes implied that it was the shoes that gave Michael Jordan his wondrous talents and abilities. And it seemed like every kid in America had to have those shoes, no matter if they could afford them or not. But it wasn’t the shoes that enabled Michael Jordan to play the level of basketball that he did. His gift of playing basketball was a combination of talent and drive, things that come from other sources. The problem is that we are never asked to utilize our own talents but rather what others think our talents might be.

Each of us has a gift and each gift adds spice to life and enhances the flavor of the church. One of things that I never quite got used to while living in the dormitories at Truman, and I am sure that you all would agree with this, was the food. It wasn’t always that bad but it was never something that you really looked forward to eating. It was institutional food and always seemed to lack something.

The same is true about the church today. A church that demands the same from all of its members will not be a vital church for it will be missing something. The gifts that each of us have because how the Spirit has filled us are those missing parts.

The world around us asks us to make choices. We have chosen to be here this morning. I know that I am a Methodist today not only because I saw in the Methodist movement how society could be affected because of how it allowed me to related to God. There came a time when I found it difficult to get up on Sunday and make that walk of ten or fifteen blocks from the campus to First Church. It wasn’t so much that I didn’t want to go but rather that I didn’t want to dress up. And back then I thought that wearing a coat and tie were an integral part of church attendance. Now, of course, I do it without hesitation but back then, I was looking for ways to go to church in blue jeans and tennis shoes.

I could have gone to the Newman Center for morning services for I need that priest there was, in the vernacular of the time, "cool" and he wasn’t offended by casual attire. But I also knew that he wouldn’t let me take communion because I wasn’t Catholic. And somehow I thought that was wrong. But those were the rules that he worked by and, if I wanted to attend his services, I had to play by his rules.

Those aren’t the rules of the Methodist Church and I hope they never are. As will be said shortly, communion in the United Methodist Church is an open table. You come to the table of your own choice and only you can prevent yourself from coming. All that is asked is that you open your heart to Christ.

If we are to be true to our heritage as Methodists, then we need to realize that the words that Mary said to the servants that day in Cana apply to us today.

Mary told the servants at the wedding to "Do what he tells you." The early Methodist movement also produced a community that transformed their world, "doing what he told them." They visited the prisons of their day, formed schools, fed the hungry, opposed slavery, and prayed unceasingly because that is what they felt was the way to spread the Gospel.

The call for us today comes in part from the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. From the Book of Worship comes the following prayer,

We remember the conviction of Martin Luther King, Jr. that "freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." Therefore, let us pray for courage and determination by those who are oppressed.

We remember Martin’s warning that "a negative peace which is the absence of tension" is less than "a positive peace which is the presence of justice." Therefore, let us pray that those who work for peace in our world may cry out first for justice.

We remember Martin’s insight that "injustice anywhere is a treat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly." Therefore, let us pray that we may see nothing in isolation, but may know ourselves bound to one another and to all people under heaven.

We remember Martin’s lament that "the contemporary church is often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch-supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the Church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the Church’s silent and often vocal sanction of things as they are." Then let us pray that neither this congregation nor any congregation of Christ’s people may be silent in the face of wrong, but that we may be disturbers of the status quo when that is God’s call to us.

We remember Martin’s "hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty." Therefore, in faith, let us commend ourselves and our work for justice to the goodness of almighty God. (From The United Methodist Book of Worship, page 435-436. The quotations were "Letter from the Birmingham City Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. The litany was written by W. B. McClain and L. H. Stookey.)

The choices that we make have lasting consequences on our lives. The effects that we have on others are felt long after we are gone. We don’t need a new pair of shoes in order to do the work of Christ in this world. All we need is an open heart and a willingness to let Christ in.

Baptism by Fire

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Here are my thoughts for the Baptism of the Lord Sunday, 10 January 2010.  The Scriptures for this Sunday are Isaiah 43: 1 – 7; Acts 8: 14 – 17; and Luke 3: 15 – 17, 21 – 22.

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If there is one topic that has positive and negative elements in my life, it is my baptism. I was baptized on December 24, 1950 at the First Evangelical and Reformed Church in Lexington, North Carolina.

Now, for some, this really wasn’t my baptism because I was only an infant and I didn’t know what was going on or what it meant. However, I was raised with the knowledge that I was baptized and I have tried to live my life with that knowledge.

(I first described the following episode in my life in “That First Baptism”.)

But there was that dreary night in late March, 1969, and I was struggling to get back to school after Spring Break. A severe snow storm had crippled travel and instead of making it easily from Memphis to St. Louis, I found myself sixty miles south of Kirksville in Moberly, MO. I was familiar with Moberly but in which I knew no one. Somehow I ended up at the small Bible College located there. The inhabitants of the men’s dormitory found me a space in which I could sleep that night.

In the course of that evening’s conversation, one of the soon-to-be evangelists and preachers asked me about my baptism. I replied that I had been baptized when I was three months old. The young man who asked me this question then informed me, in no uncertain terms, that my infant baptism didn’t count and that I needed to be baptized as an adult if I was ever to see the gates of Heaven.

Perhaps those weren’t his exact words but the meaning of his message was clear and I was greatly disturbed by what he said. First, I was not ready for such words, traveling in difficult circumstances and in a time when my whole future seemed so uncertain. I was struggling with life as a college student and trying to get my grade point average back up after a disastrous fall and winter quarter. (For those readers who attended Truman State University, my alma mater, after 1969, the 1968/69 academic year was the last year the academic year was based on quarter. With the 1969/70 academic year, the school made the change to a semester calendar.) If I messed up the courses that spring, my academic career would take a beating. In addition, Kirksville had a policy that if you were absent the day before or the day after a break, you would lose .5 credits for each course that you missed. This was an additional pressure that I didn’t need at that time.

Since this was the spring of 1969, I thought that there was a good possibility that I would spend the next semester registered as a student of the University of South Viet Nam at a branch campus designated by the United States Army. My request for a draft deferment had been messed up and I anticipated receiving that wonderful letter from my Uncle in Washington at any time.

Just before I had left Kirksville for home and some quiet time, I met with the pastor of First United Methodist Church to have communion. Reverend Marvin Fortel admitted to being surprised by this request (perhaps, because most of the students who attended First Church were from communities nearby and would have taken communion with their parents in the church where they grew up) but he agreed to meet with me before I left. It was just the two of us, meeting in the chapel of the church. Rather than the ritual of communion, it was more of a discussion about communion. And in the process, I came to find out that I did not completely understand what it was to be a Methodist. I had gotten caught up in the “works versus faith” argument that dominates so much of the writing of the Bible and I wasn’t sure which side I was on. But it was clear that my understanding of what it meant to be a Methodist and perhaps a Christian needed some clarification. And as I have written and spoken before, I left that day with a better understanding and a determination to be who I was to be in the eyes of Christ (see “Our Father’s House”).

So it was that a week later, battered by travel and angst, I received another blow when I was told that there was a distinct possibility that I wouldn’t get into heaven, no matter what had happened that Christmas Eve in 1950 in Lexington, North Carolina.

I declined the offer to be baptized that night, perhaps because I wasn’t sure but more likely offended that someone would tell me in the name of Christ that my baptism didn’t count. Even back then I had a dislike for those whose process of evangelism is to tell you, especially when you are already down, how bad your life has been.

I am not going to get into a theological debate about the justification of “infant baptism versus adult baptism”. Too me, it falls under the same category as “immersion versus sprinkling.” Yes, I do not know what was said that night in Lexington, North Carolina by either the minister or my parents on my behalf but I do know that my parents, each in their own way, saw to it that what was done that night was not done in vain.

As I began my confirmation classes in 1964 I also began working on my God and Country award for Boy Scouts. As part of that award, I worked out a way to hold a brief service while my troop was camping in the Rocky Mountains outside Denver. We were a troop that many times camped way back in the hills and that required that we carry every thing in. My father built me a cross that I could take down and fit into my backpack and then put together for the service.

My mother was the rock of my foundation, making sure that Sunday School was a part of my life. Ours was not the most spiritual or religious family but God was present and it was that foundation that got me through those troubled times of 1968 and 1969.

The two scripture readings for today from the New Testament both acknowledge the baptism by water followed by the baptism by the Spirit.

While there have been times when I have put the church on the back burner, it never left my life. But the foundation that was laid with my baptism in 1950, and with the Gospel message and the work of the church would lead me through tough times and good and to this point today.

In one sense that young man in Moberly who told me that my baptism didn’t count was correct. If I had been baptized and my parents had done nothing to raise me in such a way that I would come to know Christ in my heart as my personal Savior, then my baptism would have been meaningless. It would have the same value as the baptism of Carlo and Connie’s baby in the closing scenes of “The Godfather”. Michael Corleone has assumed the role of godfather for his niece and while he is reciting the ritual of baptism, renouncing evil and the powers of Satan, his henchmen are imposing their own justice on The Godfather’s enemies and opponents.

There are those today who were baptized as infants, with great ceremony and members of the family standing around smiling and enjoying the moment, but who didn’t follow the path placed before them that day in their life. For these individuals and their families, this is simply a single moment in their lives and the lives of their family, part of the triad of water, rice, and ashes.

But I do know one person who attended one such event because his family insisted on his presence. And while he had no idea what would happen, his attendance at that event would change his life, for he would find the Lord and later become a pastor in the United Methodist Church. Such effects are what we hope would happen to all who stand as family before the minister and watch the child baptized.

When we baptize an infant, we as the family and the congregation make the pledge to insure that the child before us grows up in such a way that he or she will find Christ when they are old enough. Perhaps we should ponder that thought a little more.

The Gospel reading for today is perhaps the reason why there are those who say that you need to baptized as an adult in addition (or in spite of) to one’s baptism as a child or infant. As John said to those standing on the banks of the River Jordan, “I shall baptize you with water; the one who is to come shall baptize you with fire.” And whether one is baptized as an infant, a child, a young adult, or an older adult, the baptism with water is meaningless unless later you receive the Holy Spirit, the fire that John was alluding to. Perhaps the discussion should be in the ways that one receives the fire, for there are many ways that we encounter Christ and accept the Holy Spirit.

A man died last Monday. His name was Tsutomu Yamaguchi and he was 93 when he died of stomach cancer. That he lived to such an age is perhaps not noteworthy but it is noteworthy that he was the only person to survive both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings.

On the morning of August 6, 1945, Mr. Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on a business trip when the Enola Gay dropped “Little Boy” on the city. Though horribly burned and temporarily blinded, he was able to return to his home town of Nagasaki and go to work on the 9th of August. His coworkers would not believe him when he described the horror and terror of the August morning and what they should do if such a bomb were to be dropped on Nagasaki. His boss went as far as to say that such words were treasonous and he should be quiet. And apparently at that very moment, “Bock’s Car” dropped the “Fat Man” atomic weapon.

Fortunately, his co-workers and boss, who moments before had dismissed his words and warnings, heeded them and because of the way their office building was constructed, they survived the blast.

It is highly likely that those who survived the two attacks were filled with anger, hatred, resentment and a desire for revenge. They are the same feelings that many people in this country still harbor today, some 9 ½ years after 9/11/2001. They are feelings that no doubt resurfaced following the attempted Christmas Day bombing.

And Mr. Yamaguchi would quite quickly tell you that he had those feelings as well. But out of those feelings came a desire that such an occurrence should never happen again. Throughout the remainder of his life, Mr. Yamaguchi worked for peace and nuclear disarmament.

I cannot say whether he was a Christian or not; the cause for peace transcends religious boundaries. But as one who was truly baptized and transformed by fire, his efforts should strike a chord in our lives as well.

But we hear too many Christians, both laity and clergy, who speak of war as the answer. Their discussion goes beyond Thomas Aquinas’ discussion of a just war and seems bent on the total destruction of those who do not believe as they do. There is fire in their spirit but it is the same fire of death and destruction that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki some 65 years ago.

The fire that John speaks of in today’s Gospel reading is a transforming fire, a fire that cleans our soul much as the water of baptism cleans the “outer dirt”.

You can say that you have been baptized and that you have accepted Christ in your life. There are plenty of people who say that today. But their words, their actions, and their thoughts belie that. They may be a Christian on Sunday morning but they are among the loudest to call for war on Monday; they are among the ones who cry at the plight of the homeless and sick on Sunday but do little the rest of the week in the way of help. They were the ones in church when I was young who sang that Jesus loved all the children regardless of color but worked to keep the same children out of their schools.

The transformation of baptism is more than a single moment in one’s life. It is a moment that should define and begin one’s life. It is not the time in life when this is done; it is what is done with the rest of your life after that moment in time.

Baptism by the Holy Spirit is a life changing event. As you finish this piece today, you need to think about your baptism. Have you lead the life that you and/or your parents promised God you would lead on that day? Have you truly accepted Christ in your heart and with your mind and your soul?

Baptism is the outward sign of God’s grace. And God’s grace is unlimited and never ends. The opportunity is now. Just as Isaiah told the people of Israel that God had not forgotten them, so too is he telling us that God has not forgotten us either. And we have the opportunity, just as the Samaritans did when Peter and John came through to change our lives.

Shall this be the moment that you are truly baptized by the fire of the Holy Spirit?

Side By Side

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Here are the thoughts that I presented at Tompkins Corners UMC on the Baptism of the Lord Sunday, 11 January 2004. The scriptures for this Sunday are Isaiah 43: 1 – 7; Acts 8: 14 – 17; and Luke 3: 15 – 17, 21 – 22.

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On my desk is a picture of two guys standing side by side, long after their glory days in college. It is an interesting picture because, at least for the two of them, it evokes memories of another day some twenty-six years before when they stood side by side in an entirely different situation. The two guys are Alphonso Jackson, President Bush’s nominee for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and myself. It was taken during ceremonies at Truman State University in 1995 when the name of the college was changed from Northeast Missouri State University to Truman State University.

But the significance of the picture is not what we have become or what we were back then in 1995 but what we were. In 1966, I was fifteen year old whiz kid experiencing college for the very first time; Al was a nineteen year old transfer from Dallas, Texas, seeking to get his grades up so that he could run track for Kenneth Gardner and the Bulldogs of Northeast Missouri State. I have always said that the college should put a sign on the door of Missouri Hall 520 indicating what happened to the occupants of that room during the summer of 1966.

The significance of that 1995 picture is that there is another picture of the two of us. For many years, I thought that a copy of the picture existed in the archives of one of the Missouri newspapers but I have never been able to find it. It may be that this picture only existed in one brief moment of television and I doubt that the cameraman who took the video kept a copy.

In the spring of 1969, the black students at Truman sought to gain the right to equal housing in the city of Kirksville. Though the university had been a part of the city for over one hundred years, the relationship between the two institutions was never the best. The university developed essentially as a regional university with many of its students coming from within 60 miles of Kirksville. This allowed them to live at home and drive to school.

There was a substantial population, however, that came from beyond the regional boundaries of the college and needed to live on the campus. And therein lie the problem. It was possible, if you were a white student, to find a place to live off-campus. But for the black students, however, this was not possible. The landlords of Kirksville, reluctant to rent to white students but willing to take their money, did not want to rent to black students at all. The Association of Black Collegians, the recognized black student organization, first went to the Board of Regents asking for help in resolving this problem.

The Board refused, saying that it was not their problem. The ABC then went to the City Council of Kirksville asking for their help. The Council also refused to help, saying that it was not their problem and they needed to work through the university. With a stalemate fast developing and because it was the season of sit-ins and demonstrations, the ABC occupied the administration building.

I was a sophomore that spring, struggling with the realities of college education. The demands of college had taken me away from college life and I knew nothing of what was happening on the other side of the campus. But either by word of mouth or some announcement on the local radio station, I heard that the administration building had been occupied and a confrontation was developing between the black students in the building and white students outside the building. (Despite its connotation as the state’s liberal arts university today, it was then and probably still is today a very politically conservative area.)

So when I heard what was happening, I immediately went over to the administration building. I was fortunate and able to get into the building. I went because the people in the building were my friends and times like these demanded that you support your friends. That is when the other picture was taken. A news cameraman was taking pictures inside the administration building. The picture that I speak of shows a young, longhaired white boy standing next to Alphonso Jackson and the other leaders of the Association of Black Collegians. It is not the type of picture that mothers, fathers, grandmothers and other relatives (or at least my mother, father, and grandmother) speak of with pride. The news footage was broadcast on the St. Louis stations where my grandmother saw it; she immediately called my parents and told them what I was doing. Now, my family had never easily accepted my political activities and the knowledge that I appeared to be leading a campus sit-in didn’t help matters either. But I wasn’t standing there because of my politics; I was standing there because Al was my friend. Interestingly enough, while some whites were involved in the negotiations, most of the white activists were nowhere to be found. Politics may have motivated me in part, I am sure. But I was raised with the thought that if you accepted Christ, you fought for peace, justice, and righteousness. More than anything else, that is what lead me to enter the building that night.

What are friends for? Do they stand by your side only in times of your success? Or are they there no matter what? If you say you are a friend, are you there when you are needed? The disciples had been with Jesus for over three years, walking by his side, learning from him, and now were faced with the twin shocks of seeing Christ die on the cross and his resurrection. As friends, they were together.

It was that time right after the Pentecost when people were being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. But as the reading for today notes, the baptism had not been accompanied by the reception of the Holy Spirit. Peter and John were sent by the leaders of the Jerusalem church to complete the task of baptism and to bring the Holy Spirit into the lives of the newly baptized people of Samaria.

This was an interesting time for the disciples. The persecution of the early Church was just beginning; it was also a time of strife within the new church. Paul was still Saul and was actively involved in the persecution of early Christians. The passages just before today’s reading describe the stoning of Stephen and Saul’s silent presence at that time. But Saul is about to encounter Jesus on the road to Damascus and be born again as Paul, the great missionary charged with taking the Gospel message to the Gentiles.

In the meantime, Peter is leading the church in Jerusalem and insisting that all those who decide to follow Christ must first become Jews. It was the opinion of the early church leaders that one must first be a Jew before becoming a Christian. This strict interpretation of the conversion process almost killed the early church before it could begin.

But Peter ultimately received a vision from God that told him that the legalistic approaches he was advocating was inappropriate and not needed. If someone wanted to follow Jesus, that was all that was needed. Peter’s vision reminded him that God does not show favoritism. (Acts 10: 34)  God does not favor an individual because of his station in life, his nationality, or his material possessions. He does, however, respect his character and judge his work. The invitation to follow Christ is given because of one’s belief in Christ, not who he is or what he does. When we insist on some legalistic point of view or hold to some strict requirements for success, we lose sight of this important part of belonging to the Christian community.

There are four views of the Christian community prevalent today. The first is the "new paradigm" style. This style, suggested by the Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago, suggests that mainline churches will grow if they minimize their distinctiveness and offer seekers, those individuals looking for a home church, what they want – an anonymous, symbolically neutral, user-friendly church. The second style is an "evangelical style." This style suggests that growth is found in evangelism based on a conservative theology.

The third style is a "diagnostic" one. Its proponents contend that mainline congregations suffer from systematic problems within the body of the church. Neither the theology of the church nor its traditions are the problems; rather, the institution itself is broken and must be fixed or repaired before the church can begin to grow again.

Each of these styles has its own proponents; each style brings suggestions as to how churches struggling in today’s society can best meet cope. But a fourth style is appearing and I hope that it holds more promise than the three others do.

This fourth style seems to acknowledge that evangelism need not necessarily be conservative. It also acknowledges that a congregation with a traditional worship style and traditional building can provide a significant worship experience. This fourth style is called an "intentional style" and is characterized by a blend of local vision, denominational identity and Christian practice. In congregations, the people have chosen to embrace or recreate practices drawn from long Christian tradition – practices that bind them together and connect them with older patterns of living as meaningful ways to relate to a post-Christian society. This does not come about by birth but rather choice and through reflective engagement, individually and communally. The importance of this style is that it may be the best way for mainline Protestant churches to revitalize their congregations and move forward in mission.

This is a style based as much on the community of believers as it is on one’s individual belief. It is a style that uses the traditions of the Christian church to move forward. But it requires a commitment; it requires nurturing and a willingness to change as God’s spirit directs. (Adapted from "The road to vital churches is paved with good intentions", printed in Context (January 2004, part B; volume 36, number 1)

I think this is what kept the early church together; I think this is what will keep the present church together. But it must be with an understanding that you cannot be anonymous in the church nor can we all be of the same mindset. This is the Sunday that marks the baptism of Jesus. It is a reminder that we are set apart as a particular kind of person – one owned by God. Those who have been baptized are called to live out the meaning of this remarkable reality.

When a child is baptized in the United Methodist Church, we as members of the community acknowledge that we have a role to play in that child’s upbringing. There will be forces attempted to redefine anyone who is baptized. Commercial messages will attempt to convince that person that a great economic machine whose purpose is to make them a consumer owns him or her, and their sole purpose in life is to keep that machine alive. Other messages will tell them that they belong to no one but themselves, and that individualism is the supreme god.

But the message is that we can be individuals but we are still the children of God. Look at the words of the baptism ritual; until such time that a child is actually baptized, he or she is referred to as "this child." It is only when they are baptized in the name and spirit of God that they have a name.

God, through Isaiah, reminded the people of Israel that He called them by name. And He just doesn’t call us by name, He stands by us so that we will not be overwhelmed by the rivers we must cross or the fires that we may endure. Isaiah reminds us through his words that God places us in a unique position and that He will be there by our side, no matter what may happen. (Adapted from "Naming names" by Jack Good, in Christian Century, 27 December 2003)

If we are to revitalize Tompkins Corners United Methodist Church and I think that that is the proper term, we must remember why people gathered together in those first Methodist societies some two hundred and fifty years ago. We must begin to see that what brought them together was a chance to be part of a community that practiced what it truly believed. The presence of this church in this time must reflect that same belief. It will call for each of us to look at who we are and listen for the call of Christ, asking if we are ready to follow Him.

It begins with our journey to the communion rail this morning. We are reminded that this communion is given to all, not simply to a select group. We are reminded that the only qualification for coming to this communion is that you have an open heart, willing to accept the presence of Christ as your Savior.

Christ gathered with His disciples that evening in the Upper Room, not as a teacher with his pupils but as a friend among friends. He told them that day that as long as they remembered the traditions that he was setting forth that night, He would always be with them. The prophet Isaiah told us that God would be there right by our sides no matter what the problems might be. You are invited to come to the table side by side with your friends and neighbors in this community of Christ. You are challenged to reach out to those not here today and bring them in.

All In The Family

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Here are the thoughts that I presented at Walker Valley UMC on the Baptism of the Lord Sunday, 7 January 2001. The scriptures for this Sunday are Isaiah 43: 1 – 7; Acts 8: 14 – 17; and Luke 3: 15 – 17, 21 – 22.

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All through my preparation for this sermon I kept asking myself why Jesus would come to John the Baptist and asked to be baptized. After all, as John himself said, Jesus had no need to be baptized for He was without sin.

To answer this question, we have to first understand the nature of the baptism that John was offering. The Jews of that time were familiar with the baptism of Gentile proselytes to Judaism but what John the Baptist was doing was something totally new and different. John was asking those who were baptized to renounce their old way of life and prepare their hearts for the coming of the Messiah.

Jesus neither had to prepare His heart nor did He have to renounce His sins. But by being baptized by John, Jesus joined those who had been baptized. In doing so, Jesus also showed his support for John’s ministry and message of repentance. Finally, it fulfilled the Father’s will as evidenced by the fact that the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in the form of the Dove.

It is important to understand the importance of Jesus’ baptism to His own ministry. For it showed to the people that Jesus’ ministry was for them.

It is possible that Jesus could have accomplished what He came to do on this earth, but it would not have had the same impact. Leaders who cannot do what they ask their followers to do often are not leaders very long. And the people knew that Jesus was true to His word. And Jesus’ actions were backed by His words.

Jesus sought common ground with us. Walking in handmade leather sandals, scraping his knuckles working with the wood in his father Joseph’s wood shop, he sought the common ground with us. I suppose that he would have impressed more people had He appeared in more kingly attire or draped in armor prepared to battle, or with the halo the size of the rings of Saturn. But those who He converted who have been converted out of awe and fear, not on the relationship of love between the Father and His children, which is wanted he wanted.

He did not come to this earth hurling thunderbolts though his disciples often urged him to do so. He did not point out the numerous flaws, sins, and inadequacies of those around him though they were obvious to many. He sought the common ground with people so that He could reach them, so that He could teach them and love them where they were, not where He was.

Throughout His ministry, Jesus made it clear that his message was for all, not just a select few. The Jewish leadership of that time was particularly incensed that Jesus would preach such a message of openness. After all, they had preached that salvation could only come through a strict adherence to the law and an upholding to common societal values. Only those who understood the law and followed it religiously should be allowed to enjoy salvation. To preach a Gospel message of hope and promise to all was totally out of the question.

And I admittedly say this was a certain degree of sarcasm because it seems that many religious leaders today preach the same message. The church today often fails because it too often holds to its old ways, of telling people that the way to salvation is the way that they describe, not by letting Christ into one’s heart.

Only instead of following the law, there is a rigid belief that you must follow. In parts of the church today, there are groups that emphasize holiness and purity as the Christian way of life. In doing so, they draw their own sharp boundaries between the righteous and the sinners. It is a sad irony that these groups, many which very earnestly seek to be faithful to the Scripture, end up emphasizing those parts of the Scripture that Jesus Himself challenged and opposed. If we are to interpret the Scriptures in a manner that is faithful to Jesus, it must be with compassion in our hearts, not an adherence to laws and structure.

If we profess that the church is to be a sanctuary for those who seek peace and freedom, how can we then turn around and shut our doors to them? The Samaritans had been shut out of worshipping in Jerusalem because they were not considered pure enough to enter the Temple. Peter and John, as we read in the second lesson this morning, were the official messengers from Jerusalem sent to tell the Samaritans what had occurred at Pentecost. The Samaritans had to know that salvation came from the Jews; the Jews, in turn, had to understand that the same salvation had come to the Samaritans. With the tremendous hatred that existed between the Samaritans and the Jews, God demonstrated to both sides that they could and would be united as one church. The dependence of the Samaritans upon the Jews to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit was the healing sign that the two sides were to become one. When Peter later preached to the Gentiles, they immediately believed and received the gift of the Holy Spirit without the laying on of hands. This served as a sign to the Jews that the same gift was being given to the Gentiles as well. The Holy Spirit was the unifying factor that would bring the Jews, Samaritans, and Gentiles into one body.

The passage from Isaiah is a good one to begin the year with. It is about the return of God’s children. When we meet at Charge Conference in four weeks, we will set as our primary goal for the coming year, the goal of "remembering" all of those members of this church, of this family of God, who, for whatever reason, have stopped attending.

Some of these cannot attend because they live elsewhere or are physically unable to come. Through visitation and the newsletter, we can still let them know that they are not forgotten.

For those who have stopped attending, we need to make every concerted effort to let the know that they haven’t been forgotten and that they are still a part of this church family.

Those where God’s words to the people of Israel back then; they are God’s words to us this day. Even when you feel lost and forgotten, God never forgot you. Even when everything seemed hopeless and the obstacles too great to overcome, God will be there to help you. And by sending His son, who paid the ultimate price with His blood for our salvation, God showed that He was prepared to pay the price to get us home.

The call this day is a simple one. For those in despair and exclusion, Christ offers the acceptance that the world denies you, the dignity denied by the world, and the spiritual guidance and community that are a foretaste of life in the Kingdom of God.

And for those who have come to know Christ as their personal Savior, there is also a call, "I called you our from the world to fashion for myself a people who knew my grace and were formed by love. But now the hour has come for you to see the signs of a New Hope that are being given to my people in this world. The hour has come to join Me in the midst of the struggle to interpret that hope, struggling to keep it free, and helping people to know me as their Lord and Savior in the midst of the events of their daily life."

“I See the Light”

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Here are my thoughts for Epiphany Sunday, 3 January 2010. The Scriptures for today are Isaiah 60: 1 – 6, Ephesians 3: 1 – 12, and Matthew 2: 1 – 12.

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This is an interesting Sunday as far as the lectionary goes. We have gone from Christ’s birth on Christmas Eve to his journey to the temple when He was twelve and now have gone back to the time when the Magi arrive with their gifts. Following the lectionary can at times be confusing but what fun would we have if it was straight forward and simple?

In that vein, I took the title for this message from an old 60s song, “I See The Light” by the Five Americans but I will tell you that I will use the the old Gospel song, “I saw the light” at the end of this message.

The word “epiphany” has two meanings in my life. The first, of course, is today when, by tradition, the wise men came to visit Jesus. The second meaning has a more scientific meaning, as when someone suddenly understands the meaning behind an event or a discovery. It is, if you will, what has been termed “the AHA moment”.

It is a moment that we all have experienced at some point in our lives, a moment when a difficult problem suddenly becomes very clear and we wonder why we didn’t understand it before. But to get to that point, we have to be involved with the study of the problem and the mechanics of solving it. And that is where we, as a society, are quickly failing.

We don’t want to do the work that will enable us to solve problems. We apply the same old answers to new solutions. The answers to the economic crisis over the past several years have been expressed in terms of supporting the systems that caused the crisis in the first place rather than helping those were suffering. The answer to the problems of healthcare in this country was seen in only a continuation of the same system instead of insuring that people had real healthcare. The answers to the problems of terrorism only seek to increase the terrorism, not end it. If the links to the aborted Christmas Day bombing on the Northwest flight are to be found in Yemen, attacking Yemen will not stop future terrorism.

The problem is that we are not willing to go that extra step that is needed; we are not willing to push the boundaries necessary to learn something new. The wise men were men of learning and they spent their time learning about the world around them. Something happened to disturb the world that they were observing; but instead of simply making note of the event, they investigated it. And that required they leave the “laboratory” and venture westward to where the star pointed them.

But we are too often like King Herod, reluctant to accept new ideas or information, choosing instead to hold to the one ways and the old ideas. While our reactions may not be as violent as Herod’s, our reluctance to accept new ideas is about the same. Why is it that we think that rebuilding the banks that trashed the economic system will make things better? Why do we think the only kinds of jobs that we can create are traditional jobs rebuilding the infrastructure? Why is it that healthcare is predicated on one’s economic status? Why, when we know the causes of terrorism, do we insist on doing things that only feed terrorism?

Maybe we need to encounter Christ as Paul did on the road to Damascus. Maybe, instead of seeing things through our old eyes, we need to be blinded by the light as Paul was. And when our eyes open again, maybe we will see the world through different eyes, in a different light.

As Isaiah told the people, perhaps we should look up and look around! And if we do, then we shall see a new world, a new world of hope and promise. This new vision, this new light is echoed in the words of Paul. In Christ, we have the new vision, the new light.

As Paul pointed out to the Ephesians, the older generations didn’t have that insight. They were locked into a vision that saw the solution in the old ways. But in the vision of Christ we can see new solutions.

When the wise men came to Christ, they were filled with excitement. It was not simply that they had come upon the Christ child but that their visions had given them insight into a new world. And we know that their lives changed because they took a different way home. They understood the meaning of the message of the angels that to return to Herod was to destroy all that they had done.

We cannot but wonder if they didn’t take the message of Christ’s birth to the people where they lived. But instead of wondering, we should follow their example.

We have the vision; we have seen the light. And we know what the light brings. No longer are we limited by the old ways, Perhaps as this new year begins, we can see new solutions that focus on all the people, not just those who already have and want more. Each year we pray for peace in this world and perhaps this year we can find that peace through the Gospel message, to feed the hungry and heal the sick, to free the oppressed and bring hope to the forgotten people of the planet. Because to do otherwise will turn the clock back, not forward.

We have the opportunity, let us rejoice.

“I Saw The Light”