The Shack by Wm. Paul Young

Last night I finished reading one of the best books I ever recall reading. The Shack by William Paul Young is a fiction story based somewhat on his own life. The story is about "Mack" as he goes through some very difficult times in his family's life. He ends up meeting the Trinity ("Papa", Jesus, and "Sarayu" the Holy Spirit) and spending a most incredible weekend with them.

The Shack wrestles with unconditional love, loss, grief, and reconciliation. It tackles the idea of "when bad things happen to good people" (theodocy).

It's a quick read and left me wanting to keep reading. I kept finding ways to read another chapter. Yet I also can't wait to read it again because there is so much there I need to take in and process again.

If you are looking for a good book to read, I highly recommend The Shack. If you've read it, or read it now, I'd love to hear what you think! Happy Reading!

Betty's Diner by Carrie Newcomer

We have Communion (Eucharist/Lord's Supper) this coming Sunday for the First Sunday in Epiphany (1/11/09). I've been thinking about Communion all week, and one song has been running through my head constantly. It's on a CD I heard of years ago from my Preaching/Worship professor at Moravian Seminary, Rev. Dr. Glen Stoudt, and I received the CD for Christmas. The singer/songwriter is Carrie Newcomer. The album is "Betty's Diner: The Best of Carrie Newcomer." [click the link to visit the site and hear the song] It's the second song on this album and can be heard on her website . I highly recommend the whole album.

As a note: Another blogger has created a devotion around the song, complete with lyrics and questions in case you would like to read the lyrics or see the questions: http://songdevotions.blogspot.com/2004/12/bettys-diner-by-carrie-newcomer.html

The thing I really like about this song is the feminine image of Jesus as the Diner waitress who serves the food in the midst of the "stuff" of life. "Miranda" is the "waitress" in the diner where folks come in from the cold to find a hot meal, unwind, and go about their lives.
For some people, this might be a disturbing image of Jesus Christ, but I find much comfort in it. I like the idea because I see that as what we are doing when we are serving the bread and cup in Communion--it's being served and received in the midst of the "stuff" of life. I know when I receive Communion, it is a pause in the midst of whatever "stuff" is going on for me, and gives me strength to proceed, as well as a moments to pause and reflect on the true meaning and purpose of my life in Christ.

It also makes me think about those communion moments in my life (the little "c" kind) where breaking of bread and drink occur in daily life that are holy, but not Communion (the big "c" kind like during worship in church) in the formal sense. Jesus tells us "every time we eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death, until He comes." Where are other communion moments in our lives? Discussions over food are often very holy moments among family and friends. Where might we see Christ dining with us at the counter or the booth in Betty's Diner this week?

"A Christmas Frame Of Mind" (1/4/09, Christmas 2B)

"A Christmas Frame of Mind"
Christmas 2B
Sermon from 1/4/2009
John 1:1-18; Ephesians 1:3-14

Christmas Day has come and gone again this year. The candy, cards, and gifts are 50 or 75% off. The 24-7 Christmas Music on the radio is over--the Christmas CD's and movies are packed away until next year. The returns have been returned, the decorations are likely down or will be coming down this afternoon. We're already though New Years Day as well, and Valentine's candy is already on the shelves in the local grocery store. The shepherds have visited the stable and returned home. The Magi arrive this Tuesday for Epiphany, and they will then return home as well. Christmas has come and gone for another year. Or has it?

As I opened my stocking on Christmas Day with my in-laws and family in Pennsylvania, I took out a magnet that said, "Christmas isn't just a day, it's a frame of mind." A frame of mind... I like that. It's a great phrase. A Christmas frame of mind. Christmas in the church is a season in fact--12 days long that begins on Christmas Day and carries us through to Epiphany on January 6th. These are the true 12 Days of Christmas, but somehow it seems we have forgotten to tell the rest of the world about them. Christmas is over according to our culture. Is it over this year for us too? Christmas as a frame of mind--what if it was actually true? What would it look like in our daily lives?

As I have spent the past week or so preparing for today's message, I must confess I have been confronted with more questions than answers. As a pastor knowing I get to stand up and dialog with you on Sunday morning, more questions than answers has led to little comfort and much frustration in my preparation process. I have thought back often to what my college thesis adviser told me when I got to the end of my paper and had multiple pages of questions for further study--I was frustrated that it wasn't going to end with neatly answered questions, but in fact my topic of research led to more questions. She said that more questions were a good thing because it meant I was thinking and engaging the topic.

I also have had to wrestle with the fact that as a trained pastor, I feel like I should somehow KNOW the answers... but I confess that just as I think I have an answer, more wrestling with the questions and answers is required. These questions are not easily or neatly wrapped up in a box and placed under our Christmas trees. So I would like to invite you all to journey with me through some of the big questions of Christmas that I have found myself mulling over this week. Maybe some of these are also your questions? Maybe some of my questions raise new questions within you? I am excited about the possibility of wrestling with these together, because I believe these are questions that can likely best be answered in community.

For starters, what does Christmas mean? There is the easy answer--the word is from "Christ's Mass" celebrating the birth of the Christ child, the promised savior or Messiah--Jesus of Nazareth. The story is told in Luke 2 and Matthew 2, which many of us can quote at least in part. It's a cozy story that takes place in a stable in Bethlehem with shepherds, angels, magi, and a young couple who have an unexpected baby. But is it also so much more than this?

As I have wrestled, I have keep thinking about how we are often so busy and hurried in December and everything is focused on Christmas' arrival and being ready for the BIG DAY. In fact, shoppers take note--there are only 355 shopping days till next year's Big Day! Our preparation time is a blur of shopping, activities, parties, food, and craziness. Then it's here and over in a flash. Lovefeast buns have been consumed, our coffee's cold, and the smell of smoke fills this room as the candles are all blown out. It's all over and yet, how is life different? Yes, there is the stack of new DVDs to watch and clothes to wear, but how is life truly different? Or is it different at all? Why is Christmas even important to begin with? I kept coming back to the question of "So what does Christmas mean?" How does Christmas really affect our lives the other 364 days of the year? And if it doesn't, how might it be different this year to extend Christmas to make it a frame of mind or a way we view our world?

When we hear the story of Christmas, it is often from Luke or Matthew's story about the baby Jesus. But today, we are looking at John's telling of the Christmas Story. There are no shepherds; no angels; no Mary and Joseph; no overcrowded inn; no magi mentioned anywhere. Jesus isn't even named until 17 verses into the story. The writer in John takes us back to the beginning--literally-- by opening the Gospel's Prologue with the phrase "In the beginning." This phrase likely took your mind back to the beginning. We heard these passages paralleled in the reflective reading that opened worship this morning.

One phrase truly sums up the story of Christmas, I believe, but might need some unpacking to make more sense is in John 1:14. "And the Word became flesh and lived among us and we have seen his glory, the glory of a father's only son, full of grace and truth." The WORD, from the phrase “And the Word became flesh,” is a translation of logos in Greek, and is a term the Greek Philosophers used for logic or wisdom, and is even where our word logic comes from. The ideas of logos along with light and life were common terms used at that time by philosophers. But here the writer of John is taking these words and using them to show the world is forever changed. For the writer of John and for us, these words are not just philosophical ideas anymore; they live and breathe in the person of Jesus Christ. The God of the universe has become flesh and blood in human form--both fully God and fully human. Not only did this God-person exist, but lived in and among them. Because of Christmas, God now lives or tents or tabernacles or dwells among us. The tent and tabernacle images in John recall the Israelite image of the mobile tabernacle and Ark of the Covenant from the time of the desert wanderings in Exodus. As the Message translation explains, "The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood." This is the point... this is what Christmas is all about--the Incarnation where God becomes human and moves into our neighborhood.

So why did God become human (incarnate) and move into our neighborhood? John writes that it is to show us God's glory in grace and truth. The ideas of grace and truth also hearken back to the Exodus and Moses when God created a covenant with the Israelites. This phrase “grace and truth” can also be translated as mercy and truth, or love. Jesus came to earth, moved into our neighborhood and showed us what LOVE looked like, smelled like, tasted like, felt like, and acted like. Jesus modeled love with his every breath so we could do the same--maybe that is a Christmas frame of mind? As one of my favorite authors, Shane Claiborne, puts it, "In the baby refugee Jesus, God becomes Emmanuel ("God with us"), crashing in the manger. And it is in the life of Jesus that God puts skin on to show us what love looks like." [Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006) 324]

This understanding of Christmas leads me to reflect on the other magnet I found in my stocking on Christmas Day--"Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love." A conspiracy of love--maybe that is what Christmas is all about. Christmas is God's cosmic conspiracy of love, and we've been invited to join in on the love-fest. Poet Ann Weems wrote a very short poem that I think brings these two magnet's saying together. She writes:

"When the Holy Child is born into our hearts
there is a rain of stars
a rush of angels
a blaze of candles
this God burst into our lives.
Love is running through the streets."
[Ann Weems, "Godburst" from Kneeling in Bethlehem (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1987) 27]

God has moved into the neighborhood, and, now, Love is running through the streets. Have you seen God's RV or Motor home parked in your front yard or at the next desk over from your cubicle? Was God standing next to you in the check-out lane at REI or Target as you made returns? Has God served you coffee and bagels or wine and bread recently? One writer I encountered this week asks, "Where then do we confront the divine, where do we touch the eternal living God, where do we experience the inner light?" Ahh--More great questions with no easy answers.

The Prologue tells us that John the Baptizer came to testify that Emmanuel, "God with us," was coming into the world, giving power to people to become children of God. So then, how do we TESTIFY to the presence of love running through the streets of our neighborhoods? Mother Teresa was quoted as saying, "We can do no great things, only small things with great love. It's not how much you do but how much love you put into doing it." Maybe that is a Christmas frame of mind. What small things can we do this year that will show God's great love to those around us--our families, our friends, our co-workers, and schoolmates? How can we love the stranger on the street corner or beside us in the check out line? Maybe its spending time with an elderly neighbor who needs to be reassured that someone really does care about them or holding a patient's hand as he or she awaits test results or treatment. Maybe we can demonstrate God's love running down the soccer field in Costa Rica as we help build a youth center and school. Maybe we participate in the conspiracy of love as we volunteer or take more time to show love to our family members who might be difficult at times to love. Hopefully we keep wrestling together with how we can see God's moving van in our neighborhood and join in with the conspiracy of love that Jesus modeled. Hopefully we can share the love of God with one another--those we love and those we have trouble loving.

I invite you to spend a few moments now quietly thinking about how you might enact a Christmas frame of mind throughout this year. Jot down ideas you have or questions that have been raised--maybe on the back of your watchword card or bulletin, and let's keep wrestling with our questions together. Email me, join me for coffee, pull aside a friend to chat as we all keep looking for God in our neighborhood and testify to the conspiracy of love... after all, Jesus came into the community to show us how to love, and here is probably the best place to practice our questioning, wrestling, and loving one another, so we can live the Christmas frame of mind in our world throughout 2009. Take a few moments now to reflect, and I will close us in prayer at the end.


God who's bigger than our questions,
thank you for moving into our neighborhood to give us Jesus as the model example of how to love and live. Give us the strength and insight needed as we wrestle with tough questions of faith and understand what it means that you took on flesh and blood. Empower us to testify to where we see you in our daily lives and show us where we can participate in your conspiracy of love. In Jesus' holy name, we pray. Amen.

"It is Blessed to Give AND Receive" (Christmas Eve Congregational Lovefeast Message 2008)

"It is Blessed to Give AND Receive"
Christmas Eve Congregational Lovefeast
Sermon from December 21, 2008 7:00pm
Year B Luke 2:1-20

It's better to give THAN to receive. This phrase is often heard a lot during this time of year:
--Stores use it to entice us to spend money and remember the ones we love with gifts.
--Charities use it to remind us that there are people around us that have less and need more than we do.
--Agencies, charities, and groups use it to propel us to give to their causes and organizations.
--Churches use it to prompt us to participate in God's mission and ministry in the world.
And it is true that giving is important--no doubt. Many of these places would not exist without our giving and their receiving.

Giving is important---God GAVE us Jesus on that long ago Christmas night as a bewildered mom and baffled dad welcomed a most unexpected baby into the world. God GIVES us Jesus again each year as we celebrate his birth anew as a reminder of this most beautiful gift to the world. The magi GAVE gold, frankincense, and mirth to the tiny baby they sought in love. We GIVE gifts to our family, friends, and even sometimes strangers that we seek to love.

But with this gift from God of Emmanuel--God with us--coming into the world, is it still true that it is BETTER to GIVE THAN to RECEIVE? When we GIVE, there has to be a receiver or it's not a gift. Maybe this phrases "It's better to give than to receive" is heard so often, is because it is more difficult to receive. I personally enjoy giving gifts more than receiving. Giving gifts is one of the best ways I find to love people--it's my love language. It's much harder for me to receive gifts, especially without the feelings of guilt or the need to return the favor. Maybe some of you can relate.

I was reading my advent devotional the other day and something really struck me that I would like to share that has affected the way I understand this whole idea of giving and receiving. Bishop Will Willimon, the former Dean of Duke Chapel, said, "The Christmas story--the one according to Luke not Dickens--is not about how blessed it is to be givers but about how essential it is for us to see ourselves as receivers." [William Willimon, "The God We Hardly Knew" in Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2004) 144] Willimon goes on to say, "The Christmas story implies that what God wants to do for us is so strange, so beyond the bounds of human effort and striving, that God must resort to utterly unnatural, supernatural means. It tells of an unimaginable gift from a stranger, a God whom we hardly even knew. This strange story tells us how to be receivers. The first words of the church, a people born out of so odd a nativity, is that we are receivers before we are givers. Discipleship teaches us the art of seeing our lives as gifts." [Willimon, "The God We Hardly Knew," 146-147]

Maybe the phrase "It's BETTER to GIVE THAN to RECEIVE" should be stated a bit differently. Maybe hearing the Christmas Story and living into the Christmas story compels us to stop and say, "It's blessed to give AND receive." Receive God's gift to us in a baby--Emmanuel--God with us. Receive God's love and grace. Receive the Light of the World. --Without guilt--Without the NEED to give something in return--Just RECEIVE.

As we are receiving our candles this evening and --in a minute -- as we receive the light of Christ that is passed among us from the Advent wreath, may we be reminded this Christmas season that it is blessed to give AND receive. As we sing our closing hymn "Christ the Lord" in a bit, I invite you to raise your candle in the air on the last verse as a sign and symbol of the gift we are all given this night--Jesus, the Light of the World. I also invite you to take your candles home and place it somewhere to let it DAILY remind you of the gift we receive this day and everyday--the gift of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior--Emmanuel--God with us. It is blessed to give and receive. Receive God's gift to us this day and every day. Amen.

"Waiting" from Meredith College Moravian Lovefeast, 12/2/08

"Waiting"
Meredith College Moravian Lovefeast
December 2, 2008
Luke 1:26-56;
Luke 2:1-20

Thank you for inviting me to share with you tonight. I'm excited to be back on Campus sharing in this annual tradition. Being an Angel, A Meredith Angel, myself, I thought it might be interesting tonight to briefly look at the passage that takes place just before the likely familiar Christmas Story we heard this evening. It is sometimes called the Annunciation, and is where Mary encounters the angel. These are excerpts from the story found in the first chapter of Luke:

"26In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”

They talk and then we hear the angel say:
"36And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

39In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

56And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home."

Mary, upon hearing this god-news, this good news from the angel, has a lot of waiting to do for it to fully come to fruition in the birth of Jesus, so she takes off to see her relative Elizabeth. These two pregnant ladies spend their time waiting for the births together. They are actively waiting--in the present moment and fully tuned in to what is going on. [Henri Nouwen in "Waiting for God" from Watch for the Light: Reading for Advent and Christmas (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2001) 31]

One of my favorite authors, Henri Nouwen, describes this scene we heard when he says, "I find the meeting of these two women very moving because Elizabeth and Mary came together and enabled each other to wait.... they created space for each other to wait. They affirmed for each other that something was happening that was worth waiting for." [Nouwen in "Waiting for God" from Watch for the Light, 35.]

Isn't that what we are doing here tonight? We are here in community, sharing a meal and singing, listening together and waiting. Waiting for the candles to be brought out. Waiting for Christmas to arrive. Waiting for Christ Jesus to be born again like last year. Waiting for news of where God is going to act next in our world and how we can be a part of it. Elizabeth and Mary were in community together helping each other prepare for something unexpected and wonderful. They lifted one another up and reminded each other that waiting is worth the effort. Patience is important. Hope and the promises of God are easier to wait for when we do it together.

The early Moravians gathered together in hope and promise in the first lovefeasts as they waited to see where God was acting in their world and how they could be a part of it. They were so excited by their being filled with the Holy Spirit that they could not help but stay together and share the excitement in that present moment. I can image them saying, "Bring in the food, cause there's something big going on and we're waiting together." The young children who received the first candles at a Christmas Eve lovefeast years later saw their patience and hope come to fruition in the valuable gift of their own candle. Candles in the 1700s were valuable and important gifts. Now they too could see in the dark and have the light to carry to their homes on Christmas Eve reminding them of the light of Christ that enters the world on Christmas again and again.

We gather here tonight waiting. Waiting for Exams to be over and have time to rest. Waiting for the chance to see family and friends that we are separated from during the semester. Waiting for food and laughter shared over the table and around fireplaces on Christmas Eve. Waiting for a baby to be born anew. Waiting for God to burst forth into our world--Emmanuel--"God with us" to teach us how to love one another.
Are we hopeful?
Are we patient?
Are we holding on to God's promise that Jesus is on his way?
Are we ready?

Let us wait together, be attentive, and live expectantly. Amen.