Changing Rivers

"I got peace like a river, I got peace like a river, I got peace like a river in my soul!"  Sing that with me for a moment.  Now think about those words.  We DO have peace like a river.  Moving.  Sometimes tranquil pools and sometimes roaring rapids.  Sometimes clear and clean, and sometimes muddy.  Rivers can be gentle, flowing quietly in normal times, or they can rage with the melting snow or the pouring rain.  If rivers have peace, there is usually an undercurrent, sometimes a strong one.

If you've been whitewater rafting, it will ruin this song for you.  A few years back our youth went whitewater rafting.  Emily was on that trip, and she did what happens a lot on those rafting trips ... she fell overboard.  For a few very scary moments she was actually pinned under the boat.  Ask Emily about that wonderful little song.  Rivers aren't exactly peaceful ... but they can be!

In Psalm 23, David writes about something he knows ... being a shepherd.  In this Psalm about God's presence during life, David describes the peace I think the little song is trying to capture.  "He leadeth me beside still waters, He restoreth my soul (Ps. 23:2-3)."  He know sheep, and he knows that moving or troubled water is disturbing to sheep.  So the shepherd leads the flock by those waters that appear still, and they are calm and feel protected.  What can we learn here?

1. There is the obvious.  The shepherd knows sheep inside and out.  He knows what they need and when they need it.  Our Great Shepherd knows us (and we are described as sheep pretty often).  Let's allow Him to lead us to those places where we can catch a deep breath and become still enough to see life around us ... to discern light from darkness and good from folly.

2. There is the unseen, but true.  Sometimes the water appears still, but it is deep, moving and a nearly unstoppable force.  Our society seems to be pulled along, loving the excitement of the rapids, and resting in the deep pools, thinking all is easy and quiet.  But the river is still moving.  It is persistent, unrelenting and always headed to a destination.

In 1863 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow came to this exact conclusion.  He thought about the cannons thundering on the battlefields of civil war.  His wife had died in a fire two years earlier, and his son had been severely wounded in the Civil War.  Two lines of the song come to mind ... "I thought how as the day had come, the bells of all of Christendom, had rolled along, the unbroken song, of peace on earth good will towards men" ... still but unrelenting waters, that are deeper than they look.  Then he writes these lyrics of despair ... "And in despair I bowed my hear, there is no peace on earth I said.  For hate is strong and mocks the song, of peace on earth good will towards men."  Are you in that river?  Doubtful, confused and not sure of just where your peace will come from?

Isaiah writes about this ... "And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father ... Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6)."  From darkness to light, from death to life and from chaos and confusion to peace!  How do we get there?  We change rivers (kingdoms).  We get out of the river of culture and into the river of our Lord.  Wadsworth did just that , writing, "Then pealed the bells more loud and deep.  God is not dead, nor doth He sleep.  The wrong shall fail, the right prevail.  With peace on earth, good will towards men."

Change rivers!  Live in the kingdom of the Prince of Peace!  There will always be wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, troubles and strife.  It is even happening in those "still waters" that flow relentlessly toward a destination.  Change rivers to a destination of God's plan and God's rule.  Wadsworth knew it!  "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep!"  Place your trust, your time and your life there!  Our Good Shepherd leads us there!  AMEN

Paradox

Isaiah, in predicting the Christmas miracle of Jesus, makes a very paradoxical statement.  "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness, on them a light has shined (Isaiah 9:2)."  And we, staring down into a stone cradle at a helpless child born to a poor couple, wonder, "What is Isaiah talking about?"  A paradox for sure!

Each Sunday during the Advent season, 1st service will begin with a paradoxical song, "He Shall Reign Forevermore."  The song starts like the 1972 poem by Christiana Rossetti, titled "A Christmas Carol."  "In the bleak midwinter, all creation groans, for a world in darkness, frozen like a stone, light is breaking, in a manger made of stone, and He shall reign forevermore."  Wait?  How did we get from a helpless child in a manger to reigning forevermore?  Do you see the paradox?

Our western eyes see everything in English, black-and-white, seeing is believing and power is status/wealth/fame/notoriety/popularity.  We too easily forget that last week we celebrated Christ The King Sunday, where we lifted up the Lordship of Jesus.  We now stare down at a manger, and wonder, "How can THIS be the power of God, come into the world?"  How can we believe Micah 5:2 that foretells, "But you Bethlehem, Ephrathah though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for Me the one who will be ruler over all of Israel."

We can believe because:

1. We are not "seeing is believing" people.  We are people of faith who believe "faith is the evidence of things we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1)."  There is power and purpose in the unseen realm of God ... the one that raises up little children to become the very power of God.

2. We are not "power is status/fame/notoriety/popularity" people.  We worship a Jesus who has power, even over death.

3. We ARE people who believe in the paradox of Scripture.  That God's plan, however unbelievable, can happen.  That a little light can cast off the darkness.  That our hopeless world can be turned rightside-up by that little baby in the manger.  That HE shall reign forevermore.

Come sing it with us ... "Into our hopes, into our fears, the Savior of the world appears, the promise of eternal years, Christ the Messiah, and He shall reign, forevermore, forevermore!"

Food

Most of you see the title of the blog and get a little "bloated" thinking about the days to come.  When Lee and I lived in Charlotte we would eat Thanksgiving lunch at my parents and then Thanksgiving dinner at her parents.  That evening I felt like Joey Chestnut after a hot-dog eating contest.  WAY too full!!!!

Most of us will have an abundance of food, family and friends this week, and I hope we (as expressed musically on Sunday) are "grateful for the hands we hold, gathered round the table."  Lots of food, fun, football and fizz (of Alka-Seltzer after the meal).

But it isn't like that for everyone.  JD Walt (Wake Up Call ... see the link at the bottom of your weekly newsletter) tells a story of being aware of the Holy Spirit as we navigate the food table this Thanksgiving.  Here goes ...

When I was employed at the US Postal Service, I had a friend (John) with a large family, 8 with one on the way.  John, shared a lunchtime Bible Study with me, an especially fulfilling part of my life. We shared prayer, life, concerns and fellowship.  One day after John asked for prayer for his family, I felt the urging of the Holy Spirit.  I called my wife, Stella, and asked her to purchase $100 worth of groceries for John's family.  The Holy Spirit didn't just talk to me.  Stella told me that $100 of groceries looked too meager, so she purchased over $200.  When I got home we loaded the groceries in the trunk and went to John and Patty's home.  I knocked on the door and said, "John, we are not trying to embarrass you, but are just trying to be faithful to the Holy Spirit's calling.  We have a gift for you from our family and the Holy Spirit.  I opened the trunk, and John and Patty embraced in tears.  John took me into the house and opened their pantry door.  All they had was a single bag of rice.  John said, "We have already exhausted our opportunities with the food pantries in town, and this is all we have till payday, 5 days off.  Thank you!!!"  We watched as the kids excitedly unloaded the groceries and placed them in the food pantry.  It was full! I had difficulty driving away, because of the tears that filled my eyes, and for the Spirit using His hands of provision for a family in need.

This story makes me understand better our food pantry at church.  It reminds me that God is working in small things that are often minimized by our culture infected with affluenza. It makes me both thankful and challenged that God sees, hears and acts to use us (the body of Christ) to shout God's presence into a world that is missing Jesus.  It makes me think of Isaiah 40:3, "In the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord, and make straight in the desert a highway for our God."  Let's take this as a challenge this holiday season.  Instead of a barely-distinguishable game trail, Isaiah calls us to allow God to use us to "make a highway!"  Let's shout and sing and proclaim that Christ is born and God's Spirit is here, bringing heaven to earth!  Amen!

Lacy, Flat Tire and a Cat

No ... I haven't gone totally crazy (well, maybe I have!).  As you look at the blog title you might wonder what these three things have in common.  You might also wonder why this title appears in a sermon series about the needed shifts in American churches that will re-center us on the message and mission of Jesus.  Well ... here goes!

Lacy is the glue that binds those other two references to my mind and heart.  She was a little girl that lived in the house beside us in Kentucky.  She was just another little girl, living in a small town with her mama and daddy (the local Sheriff).  I think she was the first townsperson I met in Mt. Olivet, and she had something to do with my first act of ministry as a Methodist pastor.  We had just moved into the parsonage, and old building with ties to the Underground Railroad and that little town.  I heard a knock at the door and little Lacy, forlorn, was standing on the front porch.  She said, "Are you the new Methodist Minister?"  I said, "Yes."  She said, "My cat is in a tree."  I followed her across the street, and sure enough there was a small kitten up in a tree.  In true, and professional ministerial form, I climbed the tree and scooped the cat into my hand, carrying it down to a happy little girl.  I learned two lessons from that story.  First, ministry isn't so much about eloquence and expertise ... it is about meeting a need during a time of crisis (there was no Seminary course in tree climbing or cat scooping).  Second, ministry is meeting people where they are, just like Jesus did.  Jesus (Luke 19) used his pulpit (the street) to get a tax collector named Zacchaeus out of a tree, and out of a life of cheating people.  When Jesus left Zacchaeus' house, salvation (Jesus' message of forgiveness) had come to that house!

My next remembrance of Lacy was a 4th of July Parade/Party in Mt. Olivet.  The town (go figure) was into racing like the rest of Kentucky ... only not horses.  They had built a 4x8 plywood racetrack, complete with lanes.  That is where they had the terrapin (turtle) races.  Little kids would catch a turtle, enter it into the race, and make noise to scare the turtle into moving.  Lacy's turtle was named "flat tire" because it only had 3 legs.  Flat tire was not whole, but darned if he didn't win the race!  I learned two more lessons from this story.  First, people are far too caught up in entertainment for their own good.  That turtle race was better attended than Sunday morning church in that little community.  Second, things that aren't whole can win the race.  Zacchaeus was far from perfect, and he was despised by his own people for the things he had done.  But Jesus chose to save him from his sins and to redeem him anyway.  Zacchaeus repented and became accountable for his mistakes, and Jesus treated this social outcast like He treated anyone ... for "Jesus didn't come into the world to condemn it, but to save it (John 3:17)."

Both of these stories bring me to our shift for the week ... the shift from popularity to transformation.  Jesus' statement in John 3:17 was probably not popular.  People were happy to hear they were "chosen" and were also pleased that the law (the teachers/priests) condemned those who were not so popular and not so whole.  Lepers, sinners, blind people and Samaritans were all looked down upon for what they had done or what their infirmity suggested they had done.  Surely those hurts, pains and conditions were because they or their family had done something wrong.  But (if you remember from last week's sermon) God looks at the heart.

The question is, where are our hearts?  In many modern churches, the stage and musical performance has become central to the "experience" of Sunday morning.  Are our hearts all into the musical ambiance, the beat, the guitar and drums ... or do God's Word and the Holy Spirit speak Jesus to us?  Have we become inconvenienced by things like sharing prayers, hurts and the lives of fellow worshippers, or do we embrace the collective struggle that true faith brings?  Have we sought to make our congregations convenient, compliant and culturally-correct, but forgotten that carrying our cross and following our Savior involves struggle and work?

I don't know where little Lacy is today.  Her family was far more focused on parties, work and the culture of our little town than they were on church.  I hope Lacy will one day remember that we are all more like a kitten up in a tree ... lost, afraid and unable to extricate ourselves from the mess we have gotten into.  Maybe Lacy will remember that we sometimes need to call on someone to help.  Someone who can climb up, scoop us up into His arms, and take us to the safety of solid ground.  I hope Lacy found Jesus along the way!  Randy

Leaning

In western thought, we are all caught up in things like "moral equivalency," "humanistic logic" and "informed social behavior."  All of these are being thrown up in the face of the world as protestors rationalize their support for Hamas, bad actors use misinformation to feed falsehoods to people/media and our enlightenment clouds our ability to think in the spiritual realm.  We are headstrong and heartless as our reliance on information (often very biased from the informer) trumps our reliance on God.  Paul said it this way ... "God chose the things this world considers foolish in order to shame those who consider themselves wise.  He chose the things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.  God chose things despised by this world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important (1 Corinthians 1:27-28)."  We see this played out on the world stage as people who demand and support rights for LGBTQ+ march in support of Hamas who hates, suppresses and even murders LGBTQ+ people.  We see people who support the plight of the Palestinians while ignoring the history of terrorist and militant groups marginalizing and oppressing the Palestinians.  All the while, many are believing the "information" published by a group whose name means "violence."  It truly is foolishness as we, the western world, believe our "information" is superior to the information offered by groups we have categorized as outdated (like Christians and traditionalists).

As I write this, I hear our church bells playing A Mighty Fortress is Our God, and I can't help but think of the verse, "And though the world with devils filled, will threaten to undo us, we will not fear for God hath willed, His truth to triumph through us!"  How can this happen as the "devils" of war, hatred and falseness seem to have the upper hand?  The song gives us a bit of help here!

1. Accept God's new heart and suppress reliance on our wisdom - "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6)."  Give your heart to God.  You remember?  That new heart from Ezekiel 36:26. That heart comes with a renewed and "right" spirit, and that heart from God will lead our heads to a proper understanding.  Do you want a straight and correct path?  Then place the heart God gave you into the trusted and good care of God.  He will not fail you.  Remember, we are not that smart, and our choices have brought us into this mess!

2. Accept God's truth over the attraction and emotion of the world's hype -  As we revel in our intelligence and correctness, we invest our attention and emotion into lots of false hype.  We are blown this way and that way, and we end up asking the question Pilate asked Jesus as Pilate stood in judgment of Christ ... "What is truth (John 18:38)?" We have the same question today as we flip channels on TV.  Is Hamas a terrorist group?  Can our government be trusted? Should I get the new COVID booster?  Are the Dallas Cowboys worthy of 90% of the coverage on sports TV this morning?  What is truth?  The Bible (and the song) respond to this question.  When Jesus was tempted by Satan, and His emotions and physical weakness were pulling Him toward worldly logic, Jesus responded ... "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4)."  His head and physical needs (and Satan) said, "Turn the stones into bread."  His Father's guidance said, "Never listen to Satan ... he is the author of lies."  God's truth triumphed through Jesus, and it can with us too!

We can't trust the worldly heart that lives by human logic.  We can't truth our human wisdom, that is often based on the hype and input from unreliable sources.  But we can trust God's word and the "new heart and right spirit" He gave us when we first brought us from death to life.  We can lean on Jesus and we can count on His word!  Randy

Life, Death and Beauty

Our society is attracted to attraction!  We are repelled by "ugly."  And we have, sadly, adopted the societal norms of what is good, bad and ugly.  What if we, today, allow God's Word to weigh in on this?

Isaiah 53 is both a terrible and beautiful example of what God thinks is ugly, unattractive and beautiful.  The Chapter is written in the form of Hebrew poetry.  Hebrew verse is, in general, meant to flow in theme and rhyme very differently than we expect from Western poetry.  Here is how Isaiah 53 flows:

1. Revelation - God is revealing His "powerful arm (v.1)"

2. Unattractive Revelation - "Nothing beautiful or attractive (v.2)"

3. Troubled Existence - "Despised and rejected (v.3)"

4. Paradox - "Yet ... He bore our weakness and sorrow (v.4)"

5. Sacrifice - "But, He was pierced for our sins, beaten so we could be whole (v.5)"

6. Atonement - "Our sin was laid on Him (v.6)"

7. A Perfect Lamb - "He had done nothing wrong, but was killed (v.7-9).

8. Part of a Perfect Plan - "It was the Lord's good plan (v.10)."

9. Accomplishment - "God's plan satisfies Him (v.11)."

10. Exaltation - "I will give Him the honor of a victorious soldier (v.12).

The writer of this passage calls us to see past the ugliness, past the attitudes of people, past the torture and death, past the burial, and past the apparent uncleanness of the troubled life of Isaiah's suffering servant.  Instead, Isaiah offers a beautiful poem about life, death and what real beauty looks like.

Sunday, names will be read.  All of the names are people God created.  In my experience, I have found no people unscathed by the struggles, difficulties and mistakes of life ... NONE!  Yet, as we encounter the pallor of death, stand underneath the weight of loss and struggle, and cower "in the shadow of death," I think we gain some perspective on Isaiah 53.  We are able to put away our superficial definitions of beauty ... for beauty is defined by the good in a life.  Instead of titles and accolades, give me testimony of how that life touched/blessed other lives in the name of Jesus.

I expect, at his funeral, the Apostle Paul could have been remembered as a crusty, opinionated and educated curmudgeon that was often "in-your-face" on matters of the faith.  I don't remember reading that Paul was beautiful or even pleasant to look at.  But for congregations all over the Mediterranean rim and West Asia, who experienced the coming of Jesus and the Holy Spirit to their people, Paul was beautiful.  Like Jesus (our "Suffering Servant"), "because of His experience, the righteous servant made it possible for many to be counted righteous."  And because Paul knew Jesus, he introduced countless millions (in person and through his writings) to the Savior that "bore all of their sins."

Life isn't always beautiful, though it can be glorious!  Death is stark and terrible, but it can be atonement!  And beauty is in the testimony of life well-lived in Christ, not in the fickle eye of society.  That's my take!  Randy

Changing Our Culture

Jeff Greenway, in his message to Annual Conference, expressed a number of cultural shifts that we must make if we are to express the Gospel message into the world in which we live.  One of these shifts is the shift from being "cultural" to becoming a Christ-centered and Spiritual Church.  How can this happen?

There are many answers to this question, but one way is to throw off the yoke of Egypt that has held down our congregations for over 50 years.  I was reminded of this as I began to receive calls from congregations about "what do we do now?"  For the longest time the people called Methodists have been directed, by the corporate church, to follow the denomination and allow the "mother church (a Bishop in our old denomination used those exact words)" to lead us.  In Exodus 16:3 the Hebrews said, "At least in Egypt we sat around pots of meat and we ate as much food as we wanted."  This is a fundamental lie that Satan told the Hebrews and is telling us now. If we live to have our needs met, then we are nothing more than our needs!

Caedmon's Call wrote a song about the Dalit in India.  The Dalit are the Untouchables, the lowest caste in Indian society, even lower than animals.  The song expresses the lie of the world (culture) and the hope God has for them (God's Spirit).  It says, "When we're fed that we are nothing, we'll believe it, and we'll do what we are told."  That's slavery folks!  But then the song says, "Spark of the divine, I see it in your eyes ... it's there behind the lies that tie you down!"  That's God's hope for freedom and abundance ... you/we are sons and daughters of the King.

Our church and it's people are attitudinally in Egypt.  They look to the denomination to meet their needs.  How about we all change that?  We become churches that live in a culture of Biblical and Spirit-led values ... 1) Becoming transformed disciples that make disciples (Change), 2) Becoming people who share the Good News of the Gospel fearlessly (Evangelism), 3) Having a church-planting mindset, even inside their current congregation (Newness), 4) Understanding that every person is called by God to work (not be coddled) in their congregation (Service), 5) Hunger and Thirst for Jesus' teaching (Learning), and 6) Throwing off the yoke of our prejudice (Seeing people through God's eyes).  We cannot allow culture to teach us these things!  God has an opinion here, and it is not affirmation of sin, our choices, our needs, our feelings and our plans as ultimate authority.

As I wrote this, a young man came into my office.  His issues were life-choices and the people he associates with.  He is in Egypt!  But before you say "thank God I am not like that," are you/we passionately and recklessly seeking God's Spirit in the church, as we seek to follow Jesus (not the denomination)?  Do we look back and say, "We had a denomination that told us what to do ... how do we live forward?"  My young friend must change his culture.  And we (the Church) must be willing to change our culture.  We can no longer live in the lies that tie us down and tell us we are powerless to change our situation.  It is a new day with Father God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  Time to throw off the yoke of "mother church!"  Time to be those called out of the culture and into the abundant life of Christ!  Randy