Keeping the Doors Open

I serve a United Methodist congregation as the senior pastor. As United Methodists, we have a wonderful phrase that is often used to describe what we hope experience when they walk through our doors: “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors”.Through our doors, every person can enter into the presence of the living God. Through our doors, every person can discover the greatest gift ever given. Through our doors, every person can embrace unlimited possibilities for their life. Through our doors, all the dead ends that seem to get in the way come crashing to an end.But we must consider first things first. What enables these doors to stand in place? What are the two things that keep these door from crashing down? Yes! The hinges on the doors are the two things (we have very traditional doors); each hinge is located in a different place along the frame of the door. Each hinge is essential, but each one is incomplete without the other.What are the two hinges that anchor our doorway into God’s compassion and mercy? I would like to suggest to you that the two hinges are 1) the love of God; and 2) the love of neighbor.There is a story that speaks of the power of this love which comes from our nation’s history, and it is about an 18th-century American Quaker named John Woolman. Woolman was one of the most courageous and effective practitioners of tough love who ever lived.After discovering that he could not bear to assist his employer in the sale of a slave, Woolman traveled to Quaker meetings all across the colonies, and talked with people one by one about the evils of slavery. “My heart was tender and often contrite,” he wrote, “and universal love to my fellow creatures increased in me.”This was not an easy sales job, especially since many Quakers in the colonies were slave owners in the mid-1700s. But Woolman succeeded through quiet one-on-one conversations, visiting his fellow Quakers individually, on farm after farm, for most of the two decades of his adult life. He didn’t criticize people or anger them, but was clear and consistent in his message, and by the year 1770 — almost a century before the Civil War — there was not a single Quaker in the colonies who owned a slave.You might say that the American anti-slavery movement began when John Woolman discovered, and started to practice, the commandment of Jesus to “love your neighbor as yourself” (22:39). And if there had been a John Woolman in every religious denomination, the institution of slavery could possibly have been eliminated without the Civil War.Woolman understood the importance of “these hinges” of our faith that opened the door into God’s heart. May each one of us consider how we might play an important part in opening the doors of faith to all persons.

It Has Been A While

A missionary society in London wrote to Dr. David Livingstone and asked, "Have you found a good road to where you are? If so, we want to know how to send men to join you." Livingstone wrote back, "If you have men who will come only if they know there is a good road, I don't want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all."

This short conversation from the historical record of the great missionary Dr. David Livingstone hits me right between my "disciple" eyes. I must confess that I am part of that generation of boomers who has had a propensity to consume rather than contribute--take rather than give. In fact, the author Marva Dawn in her book entitled, "Reaching Out without Dumbing Down" says it well: "The boomers search for a church to meet their needs of instead of commitment to the church through which to serve."

Now that my own confession is complete, let me share with you that God's grace has so enlivened my heart that I no longer seek after the good road, and I am not afraid of the difficult road. My prayer is that I will simply walk the path that Christ sets me on, and trust that God gives me the strength, the courage, and the grace to remain faithful, thus to become fruitful.

I have heard it said recently, "It is more difficult to climb a smooth mountain to the top rather than a rugged mountain." Why do we prefer the smooth path when it so easy to slide down whatever mountain we are called to climb in life.

Colonial Hills United Methodist Church Mission and Values

At the March Church Council meeting we continue the very importnat conversation regarding the revision of our congregation's mission and value statement. We agreed to post a preliminary statement on this blog, and then to create dialogue among us regarding these statements.

I am praying that God will bless our efforts.

Mission Statement:

To be a family of disciples for Jesus Christ that radiates God’s healing and transforming love and grace to all people for the transformation of the world.

Core Values

-Being Christ-centered disciples with bold faith and faithfulness.
-Inviting all people into our church as home.
-Embracing all people as an open, welcoming, caring community.
-Offering spiritually vibrant, diverse, celebrative worship experiences.
-Focusing on Spiritual Formation through small groups for all ages.
-Reaching people who are not yet connected or committed to Christ.
-Expressing the gospel through Christian service that seeks to offer both acts of mercy and works of justice
-Preserving our rich heritage of Wesleyan Distinctiveness.
-Striving for excellence in every area of our ministry.

Let the conversation begin

rrpm

Everything Must Change

I have been engaged in reading a book written by Brian McLaren entitled, ‘Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope, and I would recommend the read for those asking the question, "If you had a few years left, what kind of life would you want to live?"

He suggests that the core message of Jesus is concerned about today’s global problems. In fact, I find his book to be a very hopeful testament. Jesus’ message is not just about personal redemptions, but it is also about the recreation of the human family and the planet. His message is not simply about the afterlife, but for life in this world too. Jesus does not simply offer a way of life, but a new way of life that changes everything—personally and socially, individually and globally.

I encourage you to read his book, and let’s begin the conversation. There is a website: everythingmustchange.org

Easter Revisited

As Christians we are promised
that when we trust and believe in this way,
that when we believe in the power and the love of God, a power and love that can raise the dead to life,
that our lives will be blest, and that we will be a blessing to others.

We are promised that what we believe will make a difference to us ---
And indeed it does....

Let me tell you a true story:

In Russia a few years ago a railway worker accidentally locked himself
in a refrigerator car. Unable to escape or to attract attention, he
resigned himself to his fate. As he felt his body becoming numb he
took a pencil out of his pocket and recorded the story of his
approaching death. He scribbled on the walls of the car:

" I am becoming colder... still colder... I am slowly freezing... half
asleep - these may be my last words.

When the car was opened the man was found dead, but the temperature of the car was only about 56 degrees. Officials found that the freezing mechanism was out of order and that there was plenty of fresh air
available. Although there was no physical reason that they could find for the man had died. It was concluded that he had died because he had believed that he would die.

My friends, what you believe to be true affects you to the core of your being, it shapes you and makes you what you are,
- it either blesses you because it opens you up to the power of God,
or it afflicts you because it blinds you to what you could be and what God is trying to do for you.

The Jewish Philosopher Martin Buber shares this important insight in his book entitled, “I and Thou”: You know, always, in the depths of your hearts, that you have need of God, more than of anything else. But do you know that God also has need of you; that (God), from the fullness of (God’s) eternity needs you.

Indeed the promise of Easter is that God so loved (so needed) the world that he gave his only. God needs you for desires a relationship with all of creation. God seeks to redeem creation; to bring it back to wholeness so that the “Shalom” which the early Hebrews spoke of becomes a reality in our living.

Oh What A Day

I have been attempting to write a daily devotional for my congregation, but today I struggled to get my priorities arranged so that I could complete the task in the morning.
I thought that I might share with you the devotional for Thursday, February 20, 2008 which I did finally complete this afternoon:

My Lenten devotion is late today, and I don't have a very good excuse. The excuse that I could provide you would convict me even more; therefore, it is better to simply say "I am late" Too often we find ourselves moving from one activity to the next without pausing for that all important moment to capture our "God breathe"; the breathe that links us to God's sacred and Holy Spirit.

There is a story that I love to share which might give you a little insight on how my morning went:
Rabbi Levi saw a man running in the street, and asked him, "Why do you run?" He replied, "I am running after my good fortune!" Rabbi Levi tells him, "Silly man, your good fortune has been trying to chase you, but you are running too fast."

Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that our faith journey ought to be more like this South American tribal story:
"A tribe went on a long march, day after day, when all of a sudden they would stop walking, sit down to rest for a while, and then make camp for a couple of days before going any further. They explained that they needed the time of rest so that their souls could catch up with them."

How difficult is it for you to find that time when you can allow your "soul to catch up."? Life has always been and will continue to be temporary, but life lived according to God's time is always evolving, becoming and eternal. Today's devotional has caused me to slow down a let my soul catch up with my life, and to live in God's time.

Thanks for reading along the way. I hope that you are able to glean something from this blog. By the way, I encourage you to listen to the Michael W. Smith song, "Breathe" (Youtube clip at the bottom of the blog) Grace and Peace!

P.S.

I haven't had an opportunity to stop by "Wildfire Coffee" for the last three days, and I do miss my friends.

A "Wild..Third Place"

Ray Oldenburg argues that third places are important for human societies in his book, “The Great, Good Place” Oldenburg calls one’s “first place” the home and those that one lives with. The “second place” is the workplace” Third places are the “anchors” of community life and facilitate and foster broader, more creative interaction. These third places are important places that involves regulars—those who make a habit of going there; welcoming and comfortable; both new friends and old friends are found there.

The church is called to be that “third place” for people who seek after an anchor. We have an opportunity to meet an important need in the life of people throughout our community. We must find creative ways to build community life and foster broader and more creative interaction. Furthermore, a third place can only become for us a primary place of importance if we are involved on a regular and intentional basis. In otherwords, your presence in church is important.

I have another “third place” that is important to my daily activities. I love the “Wildfire Coffee House” where Tricia and Mark Sobhani are building another kind community that foster creative interaction. The coffee is excellent, but their hospitality affirms the “Cheers” motto, “A place where everyone knows your name.

I invite you to join with me early in the morning for a cup of coffee at “Wildfire” as we discuss what it means to build a “third place” community that anchors our hearts in building up the “common good.”

A Stiking Different Way

The congregation that I am privilege to serve is Colonial Hills United Methodist Church in San Antonio, Texas. My ministry has been underway for almost two years. I am confident that God desires to build upon the vision that first gave life to this congregation--a living body of Christ that combined genuine Christian piety with acts of mercy and justice.

We stand on the edge of a renewed commitment to greatness as we seek to model for the church what it means to overcome my challengeing obstacles in this church's glorious past, and to emerge as a renewed community of Christian faith in the United Methodist tradition that impacts our community and world. We are called to be alive, as Keith Miller once wrote: in "a striking different way."

Part of this vision which is unfolding for me as pastor is that we must be committed to inclusiveness. This congregation will be noted for opening her doors to all people so that they can experience the variety of possibilities that God desires for each one of them as they enter into a relationship with Christ and become part of a vital community of Jesus. I have often said, "Lord, please send to us those who have been rejected by other congregations so that we can make your love know to all....the least and the lost, and the different."

Part of this inclusiveness of all persons means that we must strive to become a gift-evoking and gift bearing community of Christian faith. Our ministries must strive to enable every individuals to identify their spiritual gifts, and then give them the confidence to use those gifts in building up the Body of Christ.

Just a thought offered with humility.

What Nourishes You?

It is not often that I receive an email story that touches my heart, and then challenges me to reflect on one of my greatest hope for members of the community of faith. My hope is that all families become fully devoted followers of Jesus, and that the Sabbath becomes a time of receiving God’s grace and enlarging the caring of families. As I write this article, I am especially sensitive to the challenges that confront many young families in making Sunday morning worship a priority in their weekly schedule. In our attempt to provide important opportunities for our children, we become almost over scheduled in many ways.

As you reflect on those ingredients that contribute to building healthy families, and thus enabling your children to become positive members of society that will contribute positively to the common good, I invite you to consider the following email story:


A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday.
"I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me,
I can't remember a single one of them. So I think I'm wasting time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all.

"This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor.

It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals, but for the life of me,
I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this: They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today.
Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"

When you are DOWN to nothing, God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible!

Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!

I hope to see you in church where lives are changed by the outpouring of God’s Spirit. Jesus and his church never take the summers off.

The Great Awakening--Jim Wallis

There is a new book that I have been reading, and then sharing with others. The book is entitled, "The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith and Politics in a Post-Religious Right America" by Jim Wallis.



I want to encourage you to pick up his book and begin not only reading but engaging in a very important conversation with Mr. Wallis as you reflect on the church, moral values, and political values in the United States of America.

For too long we have allow television preachers, bad religious fund-raising, etc. to define what Christians care about in America. The book contends that something is happening in this country. He writes: "Faith is being applied to social justice in ways that we might have never imagined just a few short year ago. Spiritual power is being harnessed to address the greatest social challenges that we face today." For Jim Wallis those social challenges are: "disease pandemics, massive inequality that imprisons have the world's people in miserable poverty, human sexual and economic trafficking, genocide, so many threats to the sanctity of human life, endless violations of human dignity, and the alarming unraveling of both family and community systems."



I believe that "The Great Awakening" is a powerful invitation to reshape a church's vision that has forgotten the core values and principles of Jesus life and ministry. Jesus never called us to be North America Christians, but he called us to be children of the reign of God.http://sojo.net/



Take a chance and read.

A Hungering Spirit

"We stand in the midst of nourishment and we starve. We dwell in the land of plenty, yet we persist in going hungry"

I forget where I found the above mentioned quote, but I do remember the context for my own hearing of the passage. There was time in my ministry when I questioned my own effectiveness, and I truely wondered what difference was I making in other peoples lives through this ministry. The quote helped me to remember that God's grace has always gone before me preparing my heart to receive the fullness of God's love.

In addtion this is what I learned: "I need to be patient when I'm waiting on the Lord to answer prayer not because God is slow to respond, but because I am slow to listen. In order to listen to the voice of God, we must be willing to empty ourselves so that we are hungry to hear.