Time flies

I love church time. I love, love, love it. Really. I love how, once one actually gets through November and stewardship campaigns and budget meetings, time just races towards the New Year like water slipping past a dam of leaves. It just seems to seep towards newness of its own volition.

I suppose this could be threatening in some ways because there's just so much stuff to be done between now and then. Bulletins, sermons, services, newsletters, meetings, parties, gatherings... There is indeed a lot to occupy this time.

But I love that this happens at Advent when we celebrate God coming into a world that was not prepared to receive God-made-flesh. I love that despite what flimsy barriers or bullet points on our to-do lists we will try to construct between this time and the fullness-of-time, God will come anyhow. Racing in quickly. Slipping in quietly. Seeping in of God's own volition.

I love church time. It's really God's time. And it's so good to remember that because it's God's time, it's not April's time. And whatever I construct is not as important as the Source flowing over it.

Conditional grace

Yesterday, after her bath, Annalivia got out the hymnal and began singing at the top of her lungs. Apparently "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" made it into The Chalice Hymnal. O.I."Cricket" Harrison would be so proud.

My favorite song, though, appeared at the end of the concert.

It went like this,

"JESUS LOVES ME...

...ALMOST."

Being a daughter of Clara

Every once in a while (and actually more often than that, if I'm honest) it occurs to me that it is just impossible to be a mother and a pastor at the same time.

But tonight I spent some time reading about Clara Babcock. Clara was the first officially ordained female minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) back in 1888 or 1889. But before her official ordination, she was an evangelist, speaker, and elder who baptized many individuals, according to our church records here at First Christian, Rock Falls. Rev. Babcock was an unflinching preacher and led many revivals around our area. She was not one to let much stand in her way. She believed that she was called by God to preach the gospel. And she did -- all over the place, despite the fact that she was also raising her family. In fact, there are stories told of her preaching and also rocking her child to sleep in a cradle set behind the pulpit.
Every once in a while (and more often than that) I am fairly convinced that it is impossible to mother and pastor at the same time.
But the 1,502 people Clara Babcock baptized during her life would probably tell me otherwise.

What we call God

Did you know that according to some branches of Judaism, there are 72 names for God found in the Old Testament? They even have a very long name, Shemhamphorasch, each letter of which reminds them of God’s names. And Christians, of course, have even more names for God when we consider those given to Jesus in the New Testament.

When I was a teenager, I saw a poster that fascinated me. It had names of Jesus in rainbow colors with biblical references under each name. In the center were the words, “I AM.” I had a copy of it in my bedroom and would often fall asleep while meditating on it. As I thought about each of those names and the attributes of God that each described, I realized that my understanding of God’s limitlessness is very, well...limited! God is so much bigger than our imaginations can conceive and yet wants to be deeply known by us. It’s a wonderful paradox!

This summer, I’ll be preaching a sermon series on the Names of God. We’ll start with the very beginning verses of the Bible. It is my hope that exploring God’s names together will challenge us and broaden our understanding both of God’s greatness and how much God loves us. If there’s a particular name you’d like to hear about, let me know!

God go with you! ~April

The risen Christ is everywhere... still

Tomorrow I am finishing a six-week sermon series on the resurrection appearances of Jesus. It has been a good series for me. I've taken apart the scriptures that the lectionary lumps together, jumped between the Gospels, and managed to hear new things in the text. That's always a very nice experience.

My sermon tomorrow uses the Great Commission text from Matthew. We don't have opportunity enough to preach this text a la lectionary, in my opinion, and there is a wealth of meaning, direction, and symbolism in it. I mean, I could probably preach an entire month on the phrase, "Go forth!"

But tomorrow I'm using it as the last of the resurrection encounters and though I don't write in manuscript form and therefore have almost nothing to post on this website ever, I wanted to talk about the sermon here because part of it is the "rest of the story" from an earlier post you can read here.

For those who would rather not read all the details, the gist of it goes like this -- my congregation was helping a family to whom we were introduced on Good Friday. They were people in need of much assistance and as we moved to offer assistance, God's people provided in amazing ways. The family, who had never been very involved with church, were amazed that folks would just offer themselves and their resources to others they had never met. It was a wonderful Easter story.

After Easter, the story of this family became more complicated. The man of the couple made some poor choices, was put in jail and eventually headed back to Arkansas to live with his parents. The woman of the couple struggled along, made some poor choices, had her children sent to her family in Indiana, and eventually followed.

For those of our congregation who know/ knew about it, they shook their heads and expressed sorrow and also some sense of resignation that these poor choices were made. What I have NOT heard, however, is a regret that we went out of our way to assist this family. Now perhaps that's because they don't whisper things like that in my direction. Or perhaps it's because they know the main point of my sermon tomorrow which is this -- even if "the nations" don't respond to the gospel, we're still sent forth to share the good news.

What I have realized again, in the course of helping this family, is that it would be really great if our evangelism or mission had a happy ending, or if all our efforts as Christians could be wrapped up in a neatly presented package, preferrably with a shiny bow on top. But that's not how it is some of the time, or perhaps even most of the time. Sometimes, despite our best efforts, despite our most sincere intentions, despite our most heartfelt prayers, folks don't respond to the gifts we offer. Sometimes they do, but sometimes they make poor choices, get put in jail or get sent back to Arkansas or Indiana!

Yet Jesus calls us to offer ourselves despite the fact that he had to have known much of our work would look like failure. We are still asked to treat each other as we want to be treated. We are still asked to give of our resources for the kingdom. We are still sent forth beyond our comfort zone.

If we look at Jesus -- we might be able to see that some folks might have called his mission a failure. Look at his life -- travelling from place to place followed by a motley band of arguing followers. Look at his death -- a brutal and bloody political assasination, abandoned by most everyone. Look at his resurrection -- supernatural and terrifying and when he ascended into heaven he left the work of evangelizing to the motley clueless followers who had abandoned him. One would hardly call that a successful implementation of the grand plan.

But as we know, the story goes far beyond that moment. The key is that the work of God is never done. Christ ascended to God's presence to be super-present with us through the gift of the Spirit. The disciples received the Spirit and went to work and through the labors of their hands and hearts AND the immeasurable gifts of the Spirit, the mission of Christ to bring folks to the Creator became and has become and is becoming one of success.

So often we think that if the work we do and the resources we use do not acheive the job that the job has failed. That the work is done. But the risen Christ is everywhere -- still! In the midst of our "failures," in the midst of poor choices, in the midst of exhausted possibilities, the risen Christ is still here. And the work is not done until the Spirit stops. And the Spirit doesn't stop.

So. Tomorrow we will talk about Christ's resurrection appearance among us... still...again. And again and again and again. We will also pray that Christ will continue to appear to those for whom our work and resources was not enough to lead them to the Kingdom. And we will pray that Jesus will remind us that he doesn't give up on us, even when we think we're done or when our hubris maintains that WE are those who bring the work of the Lord to completion. We will pray that he gives us the strength and the vision to keep putting him on -- keep working in his name -- keep proclaming him wherever and whenever we go forth.

He has come to us... still. He is here with us... still. He will be with us... still.

Alleluia! Christ is risen, friends! He is risen indeed! Still!

Being Easter people everyday

It is hard to believe that the Church just celebrated Easter not too long ago. The weeks of Lent leading up to Easter are such a busy time for us. Easter happens in all its glory and then we take down the fancy decorations, the lilies get planted or tossed out, and we return to worship as usual.

But we must be careful to not put away Easter entirely. In fact every Sunday should have a little Easter in it. And for that matter so should every day.
After all, we are celebrating the Risen Christ with us. In our worship service, the Risen Christ is the recipient of our songs of praise. It is Him to whom we lift our prayers. It is Him who sits as host at the table. It is Him who is amongst the fellowship we experience.

It is also Him who is guiding us beyond the worship service and walking with us as we go out into the world. It is for Him that we are working and striving. In fact, everything is all about Him!!

I have shared with my congregants an excerpt from a song that we sang when I was in my church's Junior Choir in elementary school. The words are still as clear in my head as they were back in third grade,

"Every morning is Easter morning from now on. Every day’s resurrection day;
The past is over and gone! Goodbye guilt, goodbye fear, good riddance! Hello
Lord, hello sun! I am one of the Easter people! My new life has begun!"

No, we mustn’t let go of Easter yet. The fact is, we are all Easter people now. We are no longer living for ourselves; we are living for the Risen Christ. If we are tempted to see this time as mundane or meaningless, we should remember – we are Easter people! And every morning is Easter morning as long as the Risen Lord is among us.

God go with you!

The risen Christ is everywhere

On Maundy Thursday, my mother came up to hang out with Annalivia and Daniel while I was at our Upper Room dinner and Dennis was at school. Mom didn't end up leaving until about 9:30 p.m. About 25 minutes later, Mom called from her cell phone. She had happened upon a family who had hit a deer with their van. When Mom asked them where they were from, they said that they were from here. She offered to give them a ride home and eventually it came out that they had been living in their van for the last two months.
The couple is in their late twenties and have been married for five years. He is black. She is white. They have three children aged 3 and under. Her parents hate him because he's black. His parents tolerate her barely because she's white. After he lost his job in a factory, her aunt here in town said that she and the children could come live with them. He couldn't come. He's black, after all. But they had no other options, so she and the kids came here. He went home to Arkansas.
Here, the mom and kids tried to make a life. She had a job, then they found that the 8-month old baby has a heart condition that will require surgery in Rockford, north of here. She was in and out of doctors' offices and clinics, making working almost impossible. When the aunt lost her job, she said that she didn't want the kids in the house when she was home. So they tried to drive around while the aunt was at home. Eventually, the aunt suggested they move out completely. They moved into the van.
On Thursday, the family was on their way to her parents' house in Indiana, even though they knew that they'd have to be split up again. But they had no money or food. They had to do something. Her mother had sent her $40 for gas and tolls. She filled up the tank for $38, realized there was no way she would make it on the toll road that runs by our town, and headed south to pick up the next interstate.

When she hit the deer, the radiator on the van was finished. The headlights were broken. The airbag deployed. Two teens driving behind them stopped and offered to call 911. They were drinking beer, the woman said, and must not have called because no one came. My mom came upon them an hour later in 30 degree weather, called 911, and summoned a sheriff who got the van towed. Then Mom brought the family to the homeless shelter here in town.
They had to leave the homeless shelter at 7 a.m. We picked them up and took them to church then got them set up at a local motel that has a weekly rate of $155. The hotel is not the greatest place to be, but it is warm and has beds and a shower. And there's a laundromat there, all of which is a far cry from the seats of their van and bathrooms in rest areas where they have been taking sponge baths and trying to rinse out clothes for the last few months.
At the same time we were doing all of this, Dennis was talking to the guy who owns the place where the van was towed. We were worried about how much things would cost to have them repaired. A radiator, headlights and a new airbag are not cheap. We had a generous donation of $500 to help with the cost of the repairs, but we were worried it would be far more.
We were also worried about the family's supplies. The baby had one outfit which she was wearing and was filthy. The clothes they had were mostly moldy because they'd been washed out in rest area bathrooms and hung in the cold van to drip dry. And they needed shoes and bottles and suitcases or bags and diapers. It seemed kind of overwhelming.
I had only $200 in my discretionary account, most of which was spent on the motel room. I went to a local secondhand shop that always has cool Christian hip-hop and gospel blaring through the speakers. I picked up a bunch of stuff and at the counter, when asked about the various sizes, told the girls there about the family. They discounted everything 50% and took my name so that they could pass along other things when they find them.
I also got return calls from other pastors who offered to use their discretionary accounts, if necessary. The Catholic priest in particular, was very helpful in figuring out some basics in terms of care for these folks. And then the guy from the auto shop called. The van was done. Dennis and I went to get it and Dennis went in to pay for it. When he came out he handed me the bill and said, "The man's a saint." The bill was $50 to cover the cost of towing. The man had donated all labor and parts, and discounted the towing a heck of a lot. I almost cried.
And then there's my momma, who is just one of the most generous, giving, and compassionate women in the world. She spent the day getting clothes for the family and washing them all up, placing them in new suitcases and getting them ready for us to bring back to them after Easter.
After each new development, I would stop by the family's hotel room to explain what was happening to them. The mother wept openly every time I stopped by their room yesterday. Her husband whooped for joy when he heard about the van being fixed. They kept saying that they didn't understand why people were being so kind to them. In their hometowns, in their families, there was never grace or second chances or forgiveness. Why are they encountering it now?

I told them that this is our job as Christians -- to be Christ to others. The new life we have should change how we live this life, I told them. They didn't understand why this grace is offered now, but they want to, so they're coming to church today.

In the process of all of this, I have received renewed affirmation as to the power and presence of the Spirit in the followers of Jesus. As I said to Mom near the end of the day yesterday, after receiving the gift of that $50 receipt, "The risen Christ is everywhere."

And He is. It's HIM that this family is talking about -- this unseen thing that offers them and us grace abundant -- this reason "why?" which requires us to do better and be better than the standards set by the world around us. In the midst of life -- the pretty and ordered, as well as the messy and difficult -- He is risen. And it is our great privilege as Christ-followers to proclaim Him at church, at the grocery store, in the traffic lane, at the auto shop...
"I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you," he says.
And he has.

He has come to this family, though they might not recognize Him yet. And he has come to me and my family, reminding us again of why we put on His name and call ourselves His.
He has come.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Christ is risen, indeed!

Have a blessed Easter, all.

If you missed NPR tonight...

Take a moment or two and check out this great reflection by Kevin Kling. Great car moment listening to that today.
And if you want to be amused, listen to more of his reflections, especially this one, which should appeal to you church-y folks. Search at NPR under Kevin Kling. Hours of amusement.