Thanks Giving

We are preparing to enter into the week of Thanksgiving.  A time that for many of us means family and food (and football).  Thanksgiving is a time to be together with those you love and after being away from my family, I am thankful we will be together this year. We will cook our favorite dishes together and then sit around a big table with our extended family and eat more food than we need to eat.  I know that I will look around the table and see my daughter's beautiful faces and be thankful that we are together.  I will see my sister and her family and her family's family and be grateful that we are all together.  We will laugh and share family stories.  We will play games and my heart (in addition to my belly) will be full.

Yet I wonder if we even know what it means to be grateful.  All around me are advertisements and signs for "Black Friday."  A day after Thanksgiving, thousands and thousands of consumers will rush to shopping malls to fight the crowds to buy more the day after we focused on being grateful for all we have.  Our consumer mentality wins out while 46 million Americans continue to live in poverty and the whole nation of the Philippians fights for survival.  Where should our gratitude be focused?

You see, we tend to be thankful for stuff but scripture tell us that we need to be in all things because God is in all things.  1 Thessalonians 5:18 says,  "Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." 

Now I don't think Paul is saying we need to say, "gosh, I'm really thankful for this cancer I have," or "I'm so glad I lost my job!"   That wouldn't be real.  Hard times are hard times. They suck.  But what we can thank God for is his unending, unconditional love and grace and mercy in the midst of all circumstances through Jesus Christ.  God is faithful and steadfast.   We are called to rejoice in him, pray to him and give thanks to him for his mercies.   

We are blessed people and yet I know that I fail to see and understand the many, many blessings God pours on me each and every day.  And so it's not so much about a day called Thanksgiving but a spirit of thanks giving - giving thanks each and every day to a might and powerful, yet loving and merciful God.  May this spirit of giving thanks be our spirit - this coming week and this coming year.

Psalm 105:1   Give thanks to the LORD and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. 

The Beach

I love the beach.   There is something about the ocean that stills my soul and brings me peace.  It doesn't matter when or why I go, or who I go wit;, God always finds me at the ocean.  He shows me His sovereignty and majesty in the power  and roar of the waves as they clash against the rocks and the shoreline, pulling sand and driftwood back into its depths.  He reminds me of  His never ending faithfulness as the I watch the repetition of the waves maintaining the ocean tides, controlled by the moon - all created by the will of my Almighty God.  I'm reminded that though I am as small as a single speck of sand, God knows me by name.  As one of my favorite Psalms says:  

 "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."          (Psalm 139:13-16)

There's something about the beach that just naturally causes me to relax.  Perhaps its the consistent rhythm of the waves or the wind that always seems to blow.  It could be that I go "unplugged."  The computer stays at home and so I'm not checking e-mail or Facebook.  My phone doesn't ring.  There aren't chores to be done or things "I have to do" (or think I have to do).  I go to the ocean expecting to relax and so I do. I forget work.  I forget my responsibilities and my worries.  I just relax.  

I go to the ocean and "I'm still."  My mind is silent.  My heart is quiet.  And God finds me.  You see, God is always there and so it's not me who needs to find God.  It's me who gets lost.  Lost in my busyness.  Lost in my stuff.  Lost in my living this life on my own thing.

But when I go to the beach and I am reminded of the bigness of God all around me, and then I quiet myself - there He is.  And when I'm still, God and I have amazing conversations.  He speaks to my heart and I listen and I hear Him and I am filled.  And when it's time to leave the beauty of the beach, I return to my live refreshed and renewed and filled with the presence of God - who is always with me.  I'm just not always still enough to hear Him.

   "Be still, and know that I am God;" Psalm 46:10

Transitions

Fall is my favorite season.  It always has been.  As a child, I loved school and so fall always meant the start of a new school year. That excitement has never gone away for me.   A new beginning.  A fresh start.  I love the colors of fall and I missed the beautiful, brilliant colors of the PNW autumn while I was in Casper.  We have enjoyed a gorgeous fall this year and so I'm feeling particularly thankful.  

Tonight I'm sitting in the comfort of my living room, curled up in my favorite chair, wrapped up in a blanket, listening to the wind and the rain outside.  There is a wild storm brewing outside.  The second big storm of the season.  The second time that high winds are sending the brilliantly colored leaves swirling through the air, tumbling about wildly here and there, landing them randomly on the ground.  We are quickly transitioning from fall to winter. Soon the leaves will be gone; the trees will be bare.

It's the cycle of life.  Unless the trees lose their leaves each year, new buds aren't able to appear, and new birth can't burst forth with the green of spring.  It's the way God planned things.  Transitions bring change.  Transitions birth new life.

I'm in transition.  It's lasted nearly a year now - a long time to be in transition.  I feel a little bit like those brilliantly colored fall leaves right now - swirling about in the ruach (breath or wind) of the Holy Spirit. But because it's God, I know it's not random and I know that He's in charge.  I know that wherever I land, it will be where God intends me to be.  I am filled with anticipation for the new thing God is preparing to birth in me.  I'm filled with hope and excitement for a potential pastoral call that I feel led to.  I feel His presence in my life in a powerful way and am in awe of His faithfulness. 

I'm excited!  I sense a new beginning is ahead!  Praise Be to God!

The Significance of a Day

Tomorrow is November 1^st.  For some, it’s just Friday, the day after Halloween. It’s the start of another month – November.  It’s the signal that fall is quickly turning into winter.  The holiday season is right around the corner.  Soon it will be Thanksgiving and then before we know it, Christmas will be here.  Big holiday meals, gifts, and family gatherings are often what we think about in November and December.  Celebrations, being thankful, gathering together and giving and receiving gifts have come to define these last two months of the year.  Anyone walking into nearly any retail stores can’t miss it – buy, buy, buy!

But for more than 45.8 million people, tomorrow is incredibly more significant than just the start of another month and it is certainly not the beginning of a joyous holiday season.  For more than 45.8 million people in the United States (only about 67% of who actually qualify), tomorrow their SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits will be reduced as part of our government’s effort to balance the budget. 

These cuts will cause hardship for SNAP participants, including 22 million children in 2014 (10 million of whom live in “deep poverty,” with family incomes below half of the poverty line) and 9 million people who are elderly or have a serious disability.  Cutting these households’ benefits will reduce their ability to purchase food.  This cut will be the equivalent of taking away 21 meals per month for a family of four, or 16 meals for a family of three, based on calculations using the $1.70 to $2 per meal provided for in the Thrifty Food Plan.  (www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=38990)

In protest of these cuts, my denomination, The Presbyterian Church (USA) is asking our churches to set aside the week of November 17-23 to challenge your family to live on a SNAP food budget.  The Challenge simply spending only the designated dollar amount per day, per person, on everything that you eat, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, seasonings and drinks.  Most of us are lucky – we can “choose” to do this for a week and then go back to our normal budget and habits of eating when we want and not just when we are hungry.  For 45.8 million people - 22 million children, this isn't an option; it's a reality each and every day.

As the PC(USA) website states:  “As people of faith, our morality as citizens of a divine covenant requires us to focus on fair distribution of the abundance that God gives to us. In so doing, we must acknowledge that food distribution in the United States is unfair in its affordability and accessibility, particularly among the poor.”  We cannot ignore the issue of hunger in our own communities.  It’s simply immoral.  It's sinful.

 

Matthew 25: ³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’  ⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’  ⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

God Speaks Into Darkness

I haven't posted since early September because I've been sick - in fact I've never been so ill before.  Somehow I got whooping cough and it put me into an asthma crisis.  It completely knocked me down for two full weeks and there were days when I wasn't sure i was going to make it.  A month later, I'm still struggling to recover but I'm back at work and slowly regaining my strength and energy. 

 

I experienced firsthand the loneliness of illness.  I was too sick for conversation or activities but I still wanted companionship.  I wanted to know that someone was there – just sitting there with me.  But because I was contagious, no one could be around me. As a hospice chaplain,  I learned a lot that now informs my care of patients.  Most profoundly, I experienced the nearness of God in the midst of the deep darkness of my illness in a way that brought new life and hope and meaning.  Perhaps it was because I could only lie in my bed and sleep and be quiet enough to hear His voice, but after yearning to feel His presence for several months, it was in the midst of my severe illness and isolation that I found God.  God spoke to my future at a time when I was questioning whether I even had a future at all.

Without going into all the details or tell you about the wrestling involved, the message was clear.  God is calling me back to serve His Church!  It is time for me to throw my hat into the ring and look for a pastoral call.  My heart is singing with joy.   I love being a pastor!  I love being in relationship with people.  I have a heart for pastoral care.  I love the study and teaching and preaching.  I love equipping a congregation to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in their community.  I rejoice when I see people’s lives transformed by the God’s love and mercy and grace.  I have missed serving in a church.  Lying in bed, literally gasping for breath with whooping cough and asthma, the Holy Spirit showed me that the sadness lodged deep in my soul was the sadness of not pastoring a church.  Perhaps my gasping was symbolic for gasping for what gives me life.  I believe that God has a call for me where I can serve His Church and be near my family. 

Never underestimate God.  When or where He will speak to us.  What He will use to get our attention.  God chose to speak into my life in the midst of the darkness of my illness – bringing joy and hope when I was feeling isolated and pretty hopeless.  I wait in anticipation of the fulfillment of His promise.

Psalm 30   “I will praise you, Lord, for you have saved me from my enemies. You refuse to let them triumph over me. ² O Lord my God, I pleaded with you, and you gave me my health again. ³ You brought me back from the brink of the grave, from death itself, and here I am alive!”

Bible Study Samples

Listed below are some links to some Bible Studies I've developed on Google Docs:

Lenten Bible Study: The Way of the Cross

The Teachings of Jesus

Spiritual Formation

Sermon Samples

Posted below are some links to sermons found on Google docs:

See-Thru Faith

Response to The Risen Lord

Lasting Bread


The next three sermons are from a sermon series I preached on Jonah:

Running From God

Unexpected Change

What's Fair God to Do With It?