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.