A Church in Transition

I am attending the 27^th General Assembly of the Church of the Nazarene. OK do not tune out, this is going to be interesting. This meeting is a gathering of followers of Jesus from all over the world, 155 world areas. We gather as pastors and lay people to try and figure what it means to be the people of God together. There are young and old, rich and poor, west and east, new world, old world, aged saints- baby followers all together for a week or two to decide what it means to be a church. This is a high calling.

Now I can sit here during this gathering and find fault in so many areas. There are so many easy targets for my quick wit. I could go on and on at the many things that are archaic and out of step from what I am about and from most of you, but that is not helpful and not the way of Jesus. Instead I look around and see what God is doing throughout the world.

Because of where I live and love like Jesus, I am most encouraged about what is going on in the United States. There seems to be an upwelling of the Holy Spirit that is taking hold in the younger generation. They are rejecting the dualistic position of Liberal and Conservative. Instead they are post Liberal, post dualistic and are trying desperately to find a life in Jesus that does not embrace one of these two positions, but looks at the world more holistically. Now this movement is worthy of a much longer conversation. But for a start, please read a blog by a colleague of mine in Pasadena, Scott Daniels .

My point is, what is refreshing and gives me hope is that we can come here and talk about this. There is a healthy debate around these issues. I received a DVD on the dangers of spiritual formation practices, the emerging church and the post modern theological movements. I am also in a seminar with Dr. Daniels and others who are presenting the counter to this movement. That is how I want to address all of these issues. That we as a people would dialogue around them, listen to the points that each person is making and then pray that the Lord will help us discern where the truth is found. I know enough to know that I do not know everything, but I do have strong opinions on many of these issues. Although I think that I am right, I am old enough to know that I might be wrong. I want to hear from the other side.

And so we gather and we discuss and we pray and we worship together. We come together and we leave together with the core value that we are the Body of Christ. Like I said, I am very hopeful despite my cynicism and critical mentality. In my heart I know that Jesus is the center of all that we do and say. It is in Jesus that I hope, it is in Jesus that I trust and I ask that you would pray for us as we are praying for you.

 

Peace

Edwin

Redemption Song

Bob Marley's hit was on my mind this morning. I was thinking that as a follower of Jesus I use the word redemption in my understanding of who I am and whose I am. However what is a practical, everyday example of redemption?

My son Ean is seven now, he just had his birthday. Last month he came home from a school fair. Much like every school fair, there were games that everyone played to win tickets. The tickets were turned in at the prize booth for a choice of prizes. If you are having trouble figuring it out, think Chuck E. Cheese but instead of new toys, this school takes donated toys, kind of like the island of misfit toys on Rudolph's Christmas special. Anyway Ean comes home with this doll.

I know, a doll baby carrying a doll baby. This is a boy that loves cars and balls and every stick he can get his hands on. So I say to him, "why did you pick out a doll?" He said matter-of-factly, she was lonely and no one wanted her so I bought her to give to Kelsey down the street (Kelsey is our three year old neighbor who is a regular at our house). He then went downstairs placed the baby doll in a gift bag and took it over to Kelsey, who of course loved her new doll baby.

I was in tears over my son's act of love. Love toward a doll that no one wanted. He redeemed this little doll that no one wanted and found her a home where she would be loved. The fact that he had empathy for a doll gives me hope. Hope that he will grow into a man who has compassion on all those whom he meets. Hope that he will be a part of a generation that will look to bind up the broken, lift up the downtrodden, find the lost and love those whom no one else will love.

I hope that this week we can follow my son's example. Find someone that no one else loves and love them. I hope that we can be a people who sing redemption songs daily into the lives of those who need them the most.

"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost"

Jesus as recorded in Luke's Gospel chapter 19 verse 10

Peace

Edwin

A Little Kindness Goes A Long Way

It is interesting to me personally how far a small act of forgiveness can go. I have seen it time and time again when I mess up, how nice it is to get the benefit of the doubt or to be given grace. It is as if someone lifted a load off of my back, a weight off of my shoulders. Recently I was supposed to do something and even said that I would take care of it. Somehow in the business of life, it slipped through, despite my outlook task box and notes to remind me.

I got the email: "I am ready, did it get done?" Crap, that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, I had forgotten to get it done. The child in me wanted to lie. But I knew better. I called, I am sorry I did not get it done, so sorry. The thing is that this person had every right to yell, condemn, pitch a fit. I had said I would get it done and did not get it done, no real excuse. Instead of condemnation they said, don't worry about it, I can do it this way instead. Wow, I was blown away, expecting the worst, I was instead given the best: forgiveness, grace. It was something so small but completely felt big. Probably I was overreacting but with all that is going on, I am a little fragile and that is the point isn't it.

We don't know what kind of day our friends and coworkers are having. We do not know the lightness or heaviness of their heart. They could be having a great day or the worst day of their life. Jesus calls me to love and forgive at all times. The big things somehow seem easier then the little things. The day to day disappointments and let downs somehow have a tendency to knock me off my axis more readily than the bigger more dramatic things. But Jesus' call to forgiveness is both in the big and the little things. The debt of millions of dollars and the slapping of a cheek are to be forgiven equally. When we meditate on the Sermon on the Mount, we come face to face with a new paradigm. We are to live our daily lives without judgment or condemnation. As one who received the better end of this, I can testify that it made me more able to serve out my day in joy. (I also took care of the unfinished business first thing).

May the peace of God and the love that He gives fill your hearts, overflowing.

Edwin

Civility is Underrated

We went to Young Life's Family Camp at Woodleaf this past weekend. It was a great time for the whole family. The kids were ready to do anything and everything. It was clear that they were going to try and do everything offered in the first day. If you have never been to a Young Life Camp, they are pretty amazing. Woodleaf has a double zip line that takes you from the top of camp and dumps you into the lake. There is a Blob (a violent experience according to Jason Golz), kayaking, a pool and a giant swing. A giant swing is a poor name and description of this adrenaline creating thrill ride.

You get into a Swiss seat, then a chest harness. Then climb up a six foot platform and sit on the swing's seat. The Young Life staff then clips you into the bar in two different places, the Swiss seat and chest harness. After the two of you are safely clipped in, the platform is pulled away and then a winch hoists you up 30 feet where you decide who is going to pull the rope that releases you from the winch. One tug and you free fall for a second then swing out over the lake. It is a thrilling ride and is very popular. The line does not move quickly because of the emphasis on safety.

Ean saw his brother and sister do the swing and decided that he wanted to try it. We went down right after lunch and got in line, we were in the front and the swing was going to open in 20 minutes. It was hot and sunny, but I knew that this was a real good thing so I suggested that we wait. Ean agreed. Then at about five minutes before the opening of the swing, a group came up to the line that had formed (about ten of us) and announced that when the swing shut down before lunch, the staff had handed out numbers so they were going to go first. This seemed fair to me, but not to my six- year old. He was very disappointed. The thing was that two more groups staggered in, whereas we were told at first there were six in front of us, it was really six groups. Needless to say it was an hour longer before we got up.

It was a good lesson in civility for Ean. We were following the rules, waiting our turn, doing what was fair even when it was difficult. The swing was awesome by the way. Then yesterday I had to get a prescription from Kaiser. There was a line of about thirty people. I waited in line, Ean in tow, and found out I had to wait. I was sitting in a chair at the front of the line. What I observed was difficult after experiencing the civility at camp.

As we sat there we watched over and over again people walking up to the front, ignoring the clearly marked signs and walk up to the window, only to feign surprise when the clerk told them that there was a line and they needed to get in it. Then many times the customer would explain that they were in a hurry and could not wait in line: parking, someone waiting for them, they had another appointment, etc. Over and over again these folks showed that they thought that the line was for everyone else and not for them.

This way of thinking is so attractive. Lines are not for me, rules do not apply to me, these things are for everyone else. But really, to live in our city with peace we have to practice civility on a daily basis. Letting others go first at Peet's, letting the other car have the parking space, following the rules that everyone else follows especially when it is inconvenient, especially when it costs.

Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

                    -Jesus

O Lord, You Alone Know

Some of you know that we have not sold our home in Kansas. We tried to sell it in the summer of 2007 and like most Americans got stuck. We had buyers who could not get credit. We floated for a year, then tried again last year but everyone was sitting around waiting to see what was going to happen. God provided a renter and we have been OK for this year. The renters are moving out. Even though we know this is the bottom of the market, we are going to try to sell the house this summer. We really need it to sell and sell quickly. Seems like an impossible task.

It seems like it could never happen. It seems hopeless.

Some of you know that I am enrolled in a Doctorate of Ministry Program. The class that I am taking is Prophetic Preaching. My assignment here at the end of the class was to write a sermon based out of Ezekiel 37. It got me thinking about my house in Kansas and the circumstance we find ourselves in.

Ezekiel finds himself in a difficult situation, a hopeless situation.

During his service, Ezekiel pleads with his people to repent and stop their sin, but they would not. The consequences fall down. In Chapter 33 verse 21 we read: In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month on the fifth day, a man who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said, "The city has fallen!"-NIV

The thing that Ezekiel had feared the most had occurred. His biggest nightmare had just happened. The city and the temple, the temple of God were destroyed. Everything that Ezekiel had ever dreamed of and hoped for was gone. This is the stage for the conversation between God and God's prophet. God takes Ezekiel to a valley, a valley of scattered, dry, bleached out bones. A place of despair a place where there is no hope for life, a place no one wants to be.

God asks Ezekiel a question "Ezekiel, can these bones live?" Is there any hope in this valley of death and destruction?

Ezekiel, instead of saying that this situation is impossible and that it was hopeless, places his trust in God. You God, you know the answer to this. Instead of answering God, Ezekiel submits, he surrenders all of his despair, all of his lost dreams and aspirations to God with his response. Ezekiel says: "O Lord, You know." Ezekiel's hope is not in the circumstance in front of Him, but in God who is faithful, God who remains steadfast throughout time.

I was wondering what you are dreaming about that is too big to even hope for, too great of a leap of faith that you can't even say that it could happen. Instead, your trust is in nothing but God. The best that you can do is say: O Lord, You alone know.

Is there any hope that our house will sell?

My answer: O Lord, You alone know.

In that I will trust.

 

Peace

Edwin

A Respite from the Storm

All of us need a break, a rest from the hectic pace, a change of tempo. I realized lately that one of the things that is important for all of us to do is to be able step out from time to time and gain some perspective.

Some of my biggest spiritual growth spurts have been on retreat, camping or some sort of break from the grind. Whether it was Young Life Camp, Work Crew, a Trip to Alaska, a trip to Nicaragua, a road trip to California it did not matter, these were all defining times in my life. They had one thing in common, they were getaways, times away from the day to day. Getting out of what we are doing, if even for a few days, allows us to gain perspective and clarity. Daily time alone, weekly time of solitude and larger retreats are healthy ways to allow ourselves to rest and create and live.

If you study what Jesus did, and not just what he said, you see a pattern emerge: solitude then ministry, solitude then ministry over and over. One such time was when he was going to choose his disciples. Jesus, before making this huge decision went off by himself and prayed. So if this was the most natural rhythm for God when he was in human form, then I think it is safe to say that we could benefit from a time of retreat together.

In a month, Golden Gate Community Church is headed to Mount Hermon on a retreat in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The theme is "Wonder: Finding God in Everyday Life". It is a time in the mountains where we will play, eat, worship and learn together away from the hustle and bustle of our regular lives. I am inviting you to join us. You do not have to be a member or have attended our church to come. I think that if you choose to come, you will be glad that you did, plus it will give us a chance to meet. If you want more information, click here.

I hope you can make it. If not, take some time to get out there this week and find some space to slow down and listen.

 

Peace

Edwin

Baptism, a call of a new life

There is this guy named Rocky who lives in my neighborhood. I say lives in the loosest sense of the word. I am not sure where he sleeps, but he hangs out in our neighborhood, the Richmond. You can find him in the mornings on the bench in the Rose Garden of Golden Gate Park. Rocky wears this very old army jacket that covers him from head to toe. He smokes a lot of pot, he smells of it and I have seen him light up on a regular basis. He looks very anxious and I wonder if he is self medicating for some sort of anxiety disorder. I asked him his name one day and he said his name is Rocky. Now that I know his name I see him everywhere. I recognize him by his coat. It makes him stand out from the other folks whose home is the street.

Easter Sunday was amazing. Having all of us together celebrating Resurrection Sunday together is awesome enough, but then to cap it all off with the Baptisms of Mike, Jim, Jake, Grace and Damon, that was perfect. When we baptized everyone we said to them that, "the old is gone and the new is come."

When Paul writes to the Galatians, he writes: "For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." This has me thinking a lot about my outward expressions of faith. What does clothed with Christ mean, practically speaking? When I think of Jesus, I think of a man who was compelling, attracting others to him by his love and acceptance. It is remarkable to me that the only ones that Jesus seemed to condemn were the religious leaders who went around making others feel bad and less than. To be clothed with Christ means to wear love and grace and hope in all circumstances.

Here is my prayer for all of us this week.

"Father, help us to wear the new clothes that you have given us today: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Let these be the garments that I wear and that people see. More of you, Father less of me. Amen"

NIV