Seek and Ye Shall Find

     Though it would still be great to come up with our own list of Bible passages in which God tells us to be brave, to let go of our fears, and have confidence in God's power and provision, I did find this online today:  365FearNots.com
    And yes, it has a new scripture to instill courage in our hearts every single day.  I guess it doesn't make sense to invent what already exists.  Enjoy and remember that fear, not doubt, is the opposite of faith.  God has brought us into this world for something more than to become servants of fear and anxiety.  2 Timothy 1:7 really says it well, "For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline."

Calling All Bible Readers/Scholars

        I was making the point yesterday in my sermon that fear, not doubt, is the opposite of faith.  And I mentioned reading that there are 365 verses from scripture that tell us to put away our fears and trust in God.  Everything from "Be not afraid" to "have courage" to a divine version of "trust me on this."  The word 'fear' or 'afraid' probably don't show up that often, so we can't simply plug our words into a electronic concordance and spit out all the relevant passages.  Nevertheless, it would be a helpful project to gather one scripture verse for every day of the year that comforts our fears, challenges us to be brave, that promises us God's protection, and assures us of God's presence.  It would be a wonderful way to combat all the low grade anxieties, secret fears, and subconscious suspicions that sneak into our minds and hearts a dozen times every day.

     I challenge you to look through and gather your favorite passages that do just that and let's put together a collection of scripture passages that we can make available to the entire congregation (and beyond) to strength our faith and diminish our fears.

      If we put our collective biblical wisdom to the test, I'm sure we can come up with a year long list in no time.  If you interested, send your verses to me at Tim@andrew-umc.org.  I'll post them on this blog as I get them.  When we get to the magic number 365 we'll make it a permanent part of our web page.

    In the meantime, crack those Bibles and get to it!

Analyst, Coach, or Active Disciple of Jesus?

 I came across a thoughtful inspiration from Steve May's Preachinglife.com.  Thought you might enjoy it, especially this week.

On the last day of December 1967, the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys played one of the greatest games in NFL history: The Ice Bowl. It  all came down to a gutsy call in the final sixteen seconds of play. Do you remember? 

Green Bay had the ball at the one. Down by three points. No time-outs. Third down. It was obvious what they needed to do: throw a pass to the end zone. If it's incomplete, kick a field goal and try to win in overtime. 

Or Green Bay could do something completely unexpected: run the ball. If the play works, they win. If not, time runs out and they lose. 

You know what happened. The risk paid off, the Packers won the game (and broke my heart), and Vince Lombardi looked like the genius that he was. 

Of course, had it not worked, every analyst and Packer fan in the world would have wanted to know: Why didn't you make the obvious call? 

Fast forward 37 years to last night's game. 

It came down to a play call in the final half-minute. If you watched the game, you know about it: Seahawks coach Pete Carroll chose to pass from the one yard line with less than a minute to go, even with one of NFL's best running backs in the lineup. Wilson's throw was intercepted and Seattle lost to New England. 

The call was immediately questioned in the booth and then ridiculed at length during the post game conversation. (One analyst called it "the worst play call in Super Bowl history.") 

Of course, had the play worked, those same analysts would be praising Carroll's courage and innovation while gushing about his legacy. 

That's why they -- the analysts -- have the easiest job in the world. They themselves have no goal-line decisions to make. They have only to applaud what succeeds and second-guess what doesn't -- while pretending they would have gotten it right, had the call been theirs to make. 

But it wasn't theirs to make, was it? That's because analysts (and fans like you and me) can only observe from the stands or the sofa. We'll never be the ones calling the plays or making things happen. 

Do you see where I'm going with this? 

In life, you can either be a leader or an analyst, but not both. You can be either a decision-maker or a second-guesser, but not both. 

If you choose to lead, maybe sometimes you'll look like a genius. Other times you'll look like you don't know what you're doing. That's the risk that leaders take. 

However, win or lose, being part of the action beats being a spectator every time. 

Paul tells us to run the race in order to win, because we strive for an eternal prize. [1 Corinthians 9:2-25] 

All through the day you are faced with opportunities to either lead or second guess. Which will you do?

— Steve May

Frederich Buechner on Forgiveness

One of my all time favorite quotes by preacher/author Frederich Buechner.  A nice summary of many of the things we've been talking about in our current sermon series on Forgiveness.

“To forgive somebody is to say one way or another, ‘You have done something unspeakable, and by all rights I should call it quits between us. Both my pride and my principles demand no less. However, although I make no guarantees that I will be able to forget what you’ve done, and though we may both carry the scars for life, I refuse to let it stand between us. I still want you for my friend.’

“To accept forgiveness means to admit that you’ve done something unspeakable that needs to be forgiven, and thus both parties must swallow the same thing: their pride.

“This seems to explain what Jesus means when he says to God, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Jesus is not saying that God’s forgiveness is conditional upon our forgiving others. In the first place, forgiveness that’s conditional isn’t really forgiveness at all, just fair warning; and in the second place, our unforgivingness is among those things about us that we need to have God forgive us most. What Jesus apparently is saying is that the pride that keeps us from forgiving is the same pride that keeps us from accepting forgiveness, and will God please help us do something about it.

“When somebody you’ve wronged forgives you, you’re spared the dull and self-diminishing throb of a guilty conscience.

“When you forgive somebody who has wronged you, you’re spared the dismal corrosion of bitterness and wounded pride.

“For both parties, forgiveness means the freedom again to be at peace inside their own skins and to be glad in each other’s presence."

Ridiculous New Year Resolution

     I've decided to start spelling my name in new ways.
     It looks like Tiom is very possible.
     Time is also very probable.
     I'm very tempted to just go with lower case t.  It says it all.
     I have a signature that automatically attaches itself to the end of every email, but for whatever reason I always have the inclination to type out my first name.  As if to say, "Hey you, this is me, Tim".  The problem is that by the time I do that I'm essentially done communicating.  I'm not paying close attention and I'm not a great typist anyway.  So I end up sending things out under Tiom, Time, and occasionally just t.  I like the lower case t.  It's a cross.  It's modest (no big capital).  It's a nickname I get called by my wife, Sue's family on occasion.
    Mostly, I'm relatively busy.  When you get my email it says it comes from Tim and then describes the congregation I serve with the rest of the address.  And then you start reading it and it becomes clear who I am.  How important is it to get my own name 'right'?
     I like to think that I'm a genuinely self-effacing person.  Pastor yes, Reverend no.  One of the Pastors at St. Andrew yes, Senior or Lead Pastor most of the time no.  At the same time it matters that  am a pastor or that I might be your pastor or that the church of Jesus has seen fit to ordain me or that the bishop has seen fit to appoint me to this congregation or that we have another pastor on staff who is a wonder to behold but for a variety of reasons follows my lead or at least it is clear that if there is a buck and it stops on his desk he is perfectly free to walk next door and put it on my desk.  Those things matter and pretending they don't is a bit silly.
    But I still think I'm going to change the spelling of my email sign off anyway.  Mostly because I think it's kind of fun and maybe in a perverse way, funny.  We'll pretend that it isn't necessarily a sign of sloppiness or carelessness on my part.  I like to think of it as spicing the mundane up just a bit.  Who knows who will be writing back when you email Tim?  Could be Tom, Tin, or Time, or Tiom or even Tione.  Or it could just be good old 't.'  Let's just say it's an email wink--a chance for randomness and poor typing to conspire in order to chuckle a little "we both know who we're talking about, right?"
     Just think of it this way, when you click 'reply' it will come back to me either way.  Now some folks would feel compelled to add here about whether or not I will actually read what's in that reply.  I choose not to be so cynical.  Though I would suggest that if you really want to get my attention put 'Pastor Appreciation Gift' or 'iPad Air 2' in the subject line.  That gets me every time.

Insights Into Forgiveness

Start with a video broadcast of the last two Sundays:  September 7 & 14, where I touch on the subject.  But don't stop there.


Check out C. S. Lewis on Forgiveness:
http://oholy.net/stolga/cs_lewis.html


Also check out a new Sunday Morning Growth Group that is going to look at the biblical basis of forgiveness.  Join Marshall Martin starting September 21 in Adult 3 at 10 a.m. to explore Everything You Wanted to Know about Christian Forgiveness but Were Afraid to Ask!

I've also gotten intrigued with artist/pastor/poet Jan Richardson whose blog for this week is very apropos.  Check out paintedprayerbook.com

Sunday's Sermon Part III

We are pretty much at the same place in the church today, as those Roman Christians long ago.   What do we do with those who go to scripture and say, let us show grace, mercy and compassion to our gay sisters and brothers, aunts and nephews, sons and daughters?  Did Jesus not lay down the golden rule of treating others the way we would want to be treated if we were them?  How does judgment and exclusion fit with that aspect of the gospel? 

Or what do we do with those who go back to specific prohibitions and say that same sex relationships are judged and found wanting to God?   Does the gospel not call upon us to “speak the truth in love” to one another?  Where does the call to holiness fit into all of this?

Pastor Ken Wilson’s Open Letter To My Congregation has been a very helpful resource for me.  Listen as he tries to point to a gospel oriented away of dealing with our same sex relationship debate as a disputable matter. 

“The rejection of all homosexual acts is rooted in a desire to uphold what is understood to be the meaning of the prohibitive Scriptures and the tradition of heterosexual marriage.  It is an attempt to be careful to walk in faithfulness to God. 

Wilson goes on, “The rejection of exclusionary practices aimed at gay and lesbian people is rooted in a desire to uphold Scriptures by seeking to carefully understand its meaning in the original historical context and to apply Scripture’s teaching carefully.  It is an attempt to uphold Scripture’s caution against religious zeal that unintentionally accepts harm of the neighbor or fails to love the neighbor well. 

Both positions are principled positions seeking to uphold important goods.”

Our current debate seems to always divide into two positions:

There are those who call upon the church to be “open and affirming” of all people—but especially gay and lesbian people who have been marginalized for so long in our culture and by the church.

         And on the other side there are those who espouse:

“love the sinner, hate the sin” to care enough about gay and lesbian neighbors to hold them accountable to what these Christians believe to be sinfulness in their lives.

         But I believe, along with Wilson and others, that it is time for us to lay out another way, the apostle Paul’s Third Way.   We need to accept one another as brothers and sisters in Christ who disagree, who together go back to the same scripture but who either put various passages in different buckets, or who see the scriptures in smaller or larger contexts.  Acceptance does not require us to reach consensus—it doesn’t require full moral approval on the one hand, or condemnation on the other hand, but it asks us to accept the other in the same way we ourselves have been accepted by Jesus himself.

         In this disputable matter we have the opportunity to witness to the world the gospel power of acceptance, first and foremost to one another.  But don’t kid yourselves, denominations are fracturing and dividing over this, individuals are leaving or joining congregations based on this, and of course there are all kinds of folks who are unconnected with Christ who are hanging back watching all this going on, trying to determine if there is anything to this Jesus message and the people who claim to live their lives by it. 

         Of course we can.  We are committed, more than ever, to live our lives by “this Jesus message.”  Learning to practice acceptance within the church over our divisions on gay and lesbian relationships is not a small step. It is not an inconsequential thing.  What we do with that acceptance as we look outward to our larger community—Alas, that is the subject of next week’s sermon.

Benediction:

         There is more anxiety around this issue than any other in the larger American church—at least over those issues which we have wrestled with for some time.  I have always wondered why.  Ken Wilson, the Vineyard pastor from Ann Arbor I quoted earlier offers this guess:

“Where does this anxiety come from?  Much of it comes from the fear that our relationships with people wee care about will suffer.  It comes, more precisely, from our fear that we won’t be accepted by those who disagree with us.  Our belonging will be threatened.  The gospel imperative to accept each other despite our differences over disputable matters is very good news indeed, if we walk in it.  It’s good for us.  It’s a relief to let go of all the pressure that comes with having to judge this matter correctly.  It’s a relief to know that we can hold to our own convictions without our belonging being threatened.”

         That, brothers and sisters, is the unheralded glory of the gospel.  You and I can hold our own convictions, in this church, without our belonging in this community of faith being threatened whatsoever.  That, I believe is a glimpse into the Kingdom of God that is breaking into this world.  May it break in with even greater power through us and our congregation—now and always.  Amen.