How important is what we do at church?  In the 13th chapter of I Corinthians we find a scripture that is widely read at weddings, but its wisdom is much broader than that.  It speaks of love, but its implications are much broader and more applicable than the love between a couple.   I Corinthians 13:1-4 reads as follows:  “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

I think that the things we do at church are important.  We come together to worship.  We gather to eat, to learn, and to play.  We give people a place to come and get warm and learn about Christ.  We teach youngsters to read.  We pray for one another, and sometimes that prayer changes lives.  But if we apply the above scripture to our activities at church . . . we are nothing if we have not love.

And so this begs the question of posture.  What should our posture be at the Community of Christ?  Should we try to change our programs to make them more attractive and bring more people into the church to participate with us and join our community?  Maybe.  But I think what the scripture says about our posture is that we should be more concerned with going out of our doors and meeting people where they are and loving them where we find them.  Invite to church, yes.  But be a friend first.

There is a difference between advocacy and empathy.  Empathy is something that we feel.  We can connect with another through the phone or by hearing their story, and empathy leads to people writing checks.  Empathy is great, but it doesn’t make friends.  Advocacy is something that we do.  When that call at midnight comes and you know that you can do the good that God calls you to do and fill an emptiness that nobody else can fill at that moment—that is advocacy.  Advocacy builds from empathy.  Both together are the love that Paul writes about to the Corinthians.  And that is the posture that the Community of Christ can offer.

I wanted to take just a few minutes and thank everybody for their concern and prayers for my family.  I spent half of the last week in Springfield, MO taking care of family business.  Nobody needs to know all the dirty laundry that I could put out there, but I will say that my cousin Travis and his children will all need the spiritual support of his friends and family for a very long time.  He was in a severe car accident and will be spending probably the better part of 2012 in the hospital mending as a result.  After mending, he may be facing the legal ramifications of his decisions also.  This leaves his children with needs that many others are struggling to provide.  He has 6 children.  5 of whom still live at home.  Thank you for supporting him; thank you for supporting me.

Friends, I’m sorry to say that once again our church has been burglarized.  It is a sad event in our church because it is quite likely that whomever the person is who has stolen from us would likely have been eligible for financial assistance through other routes.  And while it means extra work for me and the building commission, for Janie and Chad; and while it means more strict security policies for the church that are still being formed; it also should remind us as a church of who we are and why we do the things that we do in our community.

As a church that is devoted to our community we need to expect a certain degree of loss.  Because we have so many people from our community in and out of our building, we have a lot of people who know what kind of equipment we have; and we have a lot of people who know the inside of our building well.  This is not to say that we shouldn’t take measures to protect ourselves.  We will, and you will probably notice them.  But a community church must continue to invite people in.  The alternative is having a facility that is never used.  The alternative is closing up our doors, putting up walls, and telling people to go away.

Being a disciple calls one to a sense of adventure.  The scripture in question for church this Sunday is taken from Mark 1:14-20, and it tells of how Jesus called his first disciples into action.  Jesus found his first disciples while they were working for their father, He called them, and they got up and followed.  I am pretty sure that they had a lot of ideas about what they thought they were following, and I’m even more sure that where Jesus took them was not where they thought that they were going to go.  In fact, how many of you have lived your life exactly as you planned it out years ago?

Indeed, one must look on events like the theft at church as an adventure.  Following Jesus is adventurous.  It will take you to unexpected avenues and opportunities for growth.  Let us look on difficult events at church as an opportunity to grow . . . grow up, grow out, reach out, and be a Community of Christ.

I’ve been involved in a lot of churches in my meager 39 years.  The members of every one of these churches said that they wanted to grow their church.  Some people meant it and some people didn’t mean it.  Some of them thought that they meant it and it turns out that they changed their minds.  Some churches grew and prospered. Others increased and then grew to regret their growth.  And still other churches didn’t grow at all and have since closed their doors.  The very important question of the day is, “Which one of these churches is CBC?”

Allow me to draw a parallel.  Carrie and I wanted to be parents, and we let a few of our close friends know about it.  We started to pray about becoming parents and about the kind of child that we wanted to have.  We, too, were praying for growth.  We wanted to grow our family.  Well God granted our wishes.  We have two lovely girls, and we love them dearly.  But—and as I’m sure that any parent can tell you—we got far more than we prayed for.  Should we have been more specific in our prayers to God?  Probably.  But the point is that our girls taught us far more about growing our family than we bargained for.  Family is a great blessing, but it is hard!  Loving somebody else more than you love yourself can lead a parent to extremely high expectations of his or her children.  Those expectations can then get thrown back into a parent’s face as the child goes through adolescence and no longer wants to mirror the parent.  It’s an age-old story.

But what is so interesting about the story is that it is exactly what happens to a growing church.  When a church grows, it needs to take on a new life.  And the parents of a growing church (those who have been at  the church for a long time) need to expect the children (those who are new to a church) to bring a host of blessings and challenges to their spiritual walk.

Now is the time to be asking yourselves what degree of commitment you have towards your church children towards your brothers and sisters who are new in Christ.  Now is the time because CBC is experiencing growth.  I have written before that CBC baptized 8 new members last year.  And we are poised to baptize and confirm close to that same number again in early January.  We could easily double last year’s new members in 2012.  To be a growing church at all in the 21st century in North America is an anomaly.  It is a reason to be very proud; but it is also a sobering responsibility to bear.

Here is the situation at CBC.  Our Christian Education department is nearing its capacity as we speak.  We barely have enough teachers to sustain the children we have at CBC each Sunday; we barely have enough volunteers on Wednesday afternoon to sustain our after school programs.  We, frankly, don’t have the number of small groups leaders that we would need to strengthen relationships with each other outside of gathering each Sunday.  We are already experiencing the challenges of growth.  The kinds of questions that I’m dealing with as pastor are these:  What level of growth can we sustain?  I ask this because each “parent” can only parent so many “children” at once.  How strong are our relationships within the church?  I ask this one because most couples divorce after 4 years of marriage—which is how long, on average, it takes to raise their first child through the toddler stage.

As a methodical man, I tend to be very deliberate in my efforts to grow our church.  However, it may be the case that our church grows faster than I am able to manage.  If it does so, then I ask you all to pray for solutions for such a wonderful problem.  It may be the case that our growth causes strife.  Same prayer.  It may be the case that growing our church causes regret.  Same prayer.

There is much more I could say about this topic, but I know that I have rambled on for too long already.  For now suffice it to say that church growth looms large in my mind this Christmas season.  It’s a joyful season, and a joyful “problem” to solve.

May you experience the peace of Jesus Christ as we approach the day of Christ’s birth.

Today is my birthday!  No, really, it is (December 11).  I grew up with one of those birthdays that was so dangerously close to Christmas that I always ran the risk of receiving fewer presents than my peers.  Those relatives that were more of the procrastinating type always gave me a single present at Christmas and told me that they spent a little extra on me because it was my birthday present too.  “Right,” I always thought to myself, “Sure you did.”  Today I turn 39, and Christianity is coming closer and closer to turning 2000 years old—I am counting from Jesus’ resurrection, not from his birth.  And here I am worrying about presents!  I don’t worry about presents for myself like I used to as a kid.  But I do very much worry about how I’m going to pay for all the presents that I want to buy for my loved ones.  The goal now-a-days is to end the Christmas season without having to use the credit cards.

How many times have you been reminded that “Jesus is the reason for the season”?  Things that rhyme always sound like clichés to me; and maybe it is a cliché.  But we need to be reminded of it anyway.  Your children will survive childhood even if they don’t receive plastic things that make obnoxious noises!  You don’t really need a remote controlled hover-craft that can be operated from an Ipad!  Or how about a gas-powered blender?  No joke.  Amazon.com sells three models of gas blenders from $300 to $360.  Maybe I’m wrong.  Maybe you do really need one for tailgating at Iowa or Nebraska games.

All joking aside.  If you exchange gifts with your family and friends over the Christmas holidays please do so out of the joy of the birth of Christ.  Refrain from giving gifts out of obligation or guilt.  And try to add this to your Christmas holiday traditions:  say a prayer before you begin opening your presents, a prayer thanking God for perfect grace and for the gift of the light of the world.

I found myself with a small group of Jr. High aged kids on Sunday night, and an adult was trying to teach them about love.  Matthew 22:34-40 speaks of the greatest commandment, and that greatest commandment is love.  It states, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”  And while I was with these kids I came to the realization that they had only a rudimentary understanding of a love like this.  They could hardly speak of love without giggling.  Of course Jr. High aged youth are full of hormones that they don’t really know what to do with yet, and sometimes those hormones override any type of logical processes.  The giggles were clearly an expression of lack of understanding; after all, this kind of love that is spoken of in Matthew is so profound that there are many adults who have not yet come to understand it.  Even I, who think I understand a little bit of it, am humbled by the way it is expressed here in Matthew.

I love my wife that way.  I love my children that way.  I love them with everything that I have.  I love them with every breath that I take.  I would give anything for them.  Then when I think of the fact that God has infinitely more than I do . . . that God breathed life into everything with infinite breath . . . that God already gave His Son to us . . . and that God loves us that same way—with all His heart, with all His soul, and with all His mind—I am in awe.

It is Thanksgiving this week.  There’s nothing more to say.  Give thanks that you are loved by God.

On November 13 and 20 I will be delivering another mini-series of sermons, and this time the topic of the mini-series will be poverty.  The first sermon will deal with Christian responsibility and working with the poor.  The second will be on poverty itself and coming to grips with the reality of poverty.  This week’s blog is designed to get you ready so that you might be able to better relate with the topic.  Empathy is the beginning of compassion.

I want for you to imagine that when you grew up that your role-models—probably your parents—were either absent, drunk, mentally unstable, or abusive.  Perhaps all four situations applied.  You were always short of cash—your parents were living paycheck-to-paycheck with no safety net.  You moved around a lot.  One year you moved 5 times and struggled to get to school where all of your friends attended—especially when your apartments were outside of the regular bus-route that would get you to your preferred school.  Chaos reigned when you were younger.  In fact, chaos became the norm and you liked to create chaos around you so that you might feel normal.  You never knew who was going to be in your house when you got home from school.  Many times people who were strangers to you stayed on your couch for weeks at a time, and they brought with them a whole new list of problems.  You grew to distrust the police because when you were very young they came to your home and took you away from your family for a while, and even though you lived in a clean and stable home while you were away it never felt like home to you because it was so very different.

And it is that very difference that causes trouble for churches who want to delve into and help with the issue of poverty.  Most of the people who attend CBC are middle class.  And to be middle class and to remain middle class you learned a certain skill set and learned how to make friends and connect with people—specifically you learned how to trust and to give-and-take in your relationships.  But those in poverty never learned how to do those very fundamental and simple things.  Therefore, the issue of poverty is as much and issue of diversity as it is of justice.

But the core of the issue of poverty is relationship.  Yes, the poor have no money.  But the reason that they have no money stems from the fact that their family relationships are dysfunctional and they generally never learned how to make real friends.  Here’s an illustration:  How many of you . . . if you lost your jobs . . . would immediately get a can of soup and a blanket and go down to the street corner and start asking for handouts?  That’s right.  You wouldn’t.  You would get on the phone and on the internet and immediately start to make the connections that you would need to make so that you could find yourself another job.  The poor do not have those connections to make!  I cannot stress this fact enough!

Poverty is the real enemy in ministry.  If you want to make an impact against poverty, you must make a friend of the poor.  You have to be the person that can be trusted.  That doesn’t mean that you have to empty your wallet.  When working with people in poverty you must set clear boundaries, but while working inside of those boundaries you have to prove that you are reliable.  Even the middle class and the rich must be mindful of their relationships.  In the end, it is our network of friends and family that is the only thing that stops us from being defeated by poverty.  Poverty takes all who have no relationships that they can count on.

I know I’m really on my soapbox now, and the topic is nowhere near exhausted.  But I’ll give your eyes a rest for now and simply invite you to church November 13 and 20 to hear the rest.  Until then, go make a new friend.

A number of years ago I was challenged by a colleague in the church about middle class churches and how involved they actually wanted to be regarding poverty.  I mean everyone acknowledges poverty as an injustice and something that must be fought, but my colleague believed that middle class (or upper class) churches would get involved with poverty only so far that they didn’t have to get their hands dirty.  He believed that those churches would offer soup kitchens or deliver meals to people on the streets, but that they wouldn’t actually form relationships with the poor because it was frightening to bring the homeless so close.

Well at the time I was a member of a middle class church who was doing just those type of things.  We were taking sandwiches and water to people living on the street in Phoenix, and we were offering support to the local homeless children’s center.  So I was very challenged by his statement.  At that moment I started looking for an opportunity that would prove my colleague wrong.  I really did want to make a difference to somebody living in poverty, but I really really didn’t want to be wrong.  And that is when I started forming a relationship with “Open Table.”

An open table is a small group in a church where one person at a time is brought into the supportive and loving arms of a church small group—a small group whose only purpose for meeting is to bring that single individual (or family) out of poverty and place them in a self-sustaining situation where poverty cannot reach them again.  An open table serves as a surrogate family for a person or family who has no reliable or healthy family to which to turn.  An open table therefore fights poverty one person at a time and makes a real and measurable impact.  It’s something that even a small church can do, and as far as defeating the cause of poverty, I’m convinced it is the only way to go.

Open Table as an organization is a non-profit that forges partnerships between social service agencies and churches and provides training to those on both sides that sets tables up for success.  The model that is encouraged within forming tables includes 1) a table leader, 2) several chairs that focus on specific issues that always come up when dealing with issues of poverty (i.e. healthcare, housing, transportation, finance, etc.), 3) accelerators—which are helpers and encouragers, and 4) a youth member.

We held a short meeting after church a week ago to see who might be interested in serving in this powerful ministry, and I was encouraged by those who showed up.  We are hoping to launch 2 tables by the beginning of next year, so if I have peaked your interest, please call me at the church (712-323-4498) or  email me

At CBC we are launching a new youth program called noiZ. I’m sure that you will notice how super-smart we are being by spelling Zion backwards for the name. It is a program led by a number of members at church, and we are hoping that it will vastly increase the numbers of youth who we regularly engage at church activities. There will be activities for Jr. High and Sr. High youth. Activities locations will vary. And activities will follow the old Zion’s league outline of fun (pump up the noiZ), service (making noiZ), study (background noiZ), and worship (praizy noiZ). I think you can see that it’s pretty complicated. That’s why we’re going to be posting noiZ activities on the church website under events. Click here to see the details of the program.  And be sure to invite the youth in your lives to attend activities.

The education and engagement of our youth is vital to a growing church. I ask that you pray for this youth program.  Lend us your ideas and your help when possible.

CBC had its second annual congregational retreat this past weekend called “Let the Spirit Breath.”  Retreating isn’t a long tradition for CBC, but it is one that I’m hoping will take off in future years owing to the need to refresh and unwind as a church family.  We had 43 people from the congregation attend, and I am hoping to build that number in future years.  Allow me to tell you about the highlights.

On Friday night we all meandered in at different times, and some of us rode the bus—thank you Chuck.  Then, after we got settled and learned each other’s names we enjoyed a lively campfire.  On Saturday we were quite busy.  We attended three classes.  The first, led by my wife Carrie and me, was about discovering your spiritual type.  The second, let by Chad Hensley, was about your spiritual giftedness.  And the third, led by Ken and Mary Killpack had to do with practicing your spirituality through various disciplines.  Those under first grade had their own activities to attend.  We also made beautiful crafts—orchestrated my Marie Rangel.  The first craft was candle making; the second was tie dying t-shirts.  On Saturday afternoon the weather cooperated with us, so we were able to compete in what I’d like to call the “first annual CBC Olympics.”  The events of said Olympics included “cheese slapping”, “water balloon archery” and “the cheese-ball toss”.  The winning team took home a trophy that I’m hoping they will bring to CBC to show to all of you; it’s pretty special.  And at night Katie Hensely led us in another campfire.

From time to time we need to recharge our batteries and listen to the Spirit breathing in our lives.  I know that it’s true for me.  If I don’t pause occasionally and ask for God to speak to me then I have a tendency to forget why I’m serving the Lord at all.  That was the intention of the congregational retreat.  It gave us time to reflect and to learn.  And it gave us time to really know the people that we go to church with too.  So if you couldn’t come, then I hope that you will find the time in your own lives to live briefly in retreat.  Find time to know God and to listen.  Find time to make a friend or two.

Mike Hartford gave a good sermon yesterday about generosity as related to the scripture above.  Hopefully that sermon will be available on-line soon.  I have the CD in my office, and once I get it to the right person, it will be uploaded.  I have a slightly different tack that I would have taken on that scripture and I want to voice it here.  Where Mike talked about God’s generosity as a model for us, I instead want to write briefly about God’ generosity and how it should fuel our praise and thanksgiving of God.

Some of the characters in the story that Jesus tells are upset with the vineyard owner (God) because he pays those who work for only a couple of hours the same wages as those who have worked the whole day.  Surely God can do whatever God wants with his own money.  However, since Jesus is telling the story as an analogy that is meant to illustrate the Kingdom then that means that everything in the story has deeper-than-surface meaning.  The vineyard is supposed to be compared to the kingdom.  The owner is supposed to be God.  The workers are supposed to be you and I.  Therefore, the wages in the story are not necessarily to be understood as money.  I think that the owner’s wages are meant to portray God’s Grace and everlasting love . . . because that love is the currency of the Kingdom.

And imagine that the work that is being done in one day on the vineyard is a person’s whole life.  Some people come to understand the love of God at a very young age.  They grow up in supporting families and learn how to be a servant for Jesus naturally.  Others . . . perhaps those who have rebelled or perhaps those who did not have good role models . . . might not come to understand God’s love until very late in life.  And imagine even farther that there are some who come to know of God’s love only moments before they die.  Would not a person like this also be extended the grace of God?  And would not that grace be equal to the grace that a lifelong servant receives?

We can give praise and thank God that God does not hold our past against us.  We can be thankful that our God forgives so easily.  Our God is kind and merciful.  And God’s currency never runs low.  And I think that is our problem when we read the parable in the scripture above.  We assume that the owner’s resources are finite.  But God has an endless supply of love, and we need not worry that He will run out should we prove to be less than perfect.  God’s love for us runs endlessly deep.  Let us praise God and be thankful for that.v

Everybody remembers where they were and what they were doing the morning of September 11, 2001. I was in Alaska at the time. I had no T.V., so I remember being glued to the radio listening to events unfold. And I remember how eerie it was in Anchorage that day because there was no air traffic. Anchorage has a high volume of aircraft per capita, and the skies were quiet on September 11 . . . adding to the ominous nature of the day. On September 11, we were shocked.

But September 12 was a different feeling. Emotions started churning, and I remember hearing a number of feelings expressed from various sources. Some wanted to exact revenge. Others wanted to build walls. The country was growing angry. And to be honest I understand that response. In fact, anger is a very natural response to grief; and we—as a nation—were starting down the road of grief on September 12.

But today is September 12 ten years later. How are we coping with our grief as a nation? I am sure that there are individuals who experienced loss on that day that are still quite angry. But nationally, where are we? It’s hard to say. I would hate to speak for all of those people. But there is one thing that I know from experience: anger is a heavy burden. It takes a great deal of energy to sustain anger for a long period of time. I believe that it is God’s will that we live a life that experiences the joy of reconciliation. I don’t know what that means in your life, but I do know that God desires His creation to be healed.

It may be hard, but we are called to forgive. Matthew 18 talks about us forgiving our brothers and sisters 77 times. I don’t know of anybody who has wronged me that many times, and I’m pretty sure that I’d grow tired of keeping track of anybody who came close. I think that what Matthew was trying to say was that God’s forgiveness is perfect, and that we are called to emulate that perfection. Let us pray together that we might even approach such perfection.

Since beginning my small group a few months ago, and because of our frequent diversions into scripture, I’ve occasionally been asked what version of the Bible that I use. And my answer is that I use different translations depending upon different situations. Some Bible translations lend themselves to preaching, others to study. Nevertheless I do tend to use the NRSV (New Revised Standard Version) more often than I use other versions, so I thought I’d take this opportunity to tell you why.

I think the easiest way to explain my decision to use what I use is to explore the difference between the King James Version and the NRSV. The KJV was published in 1611, roughly five years before William Shakespeare died. That is why the language in the KJV sounds much like a Shakespearean play. It was, indeed, a very good translation given what the scholars working for King James had to work with.

You may or may not know that we have no original documents of books in the Bible. All manuscripts that we have are copies of copies, and some manuscripts differ from the others. There are all sorts of rules and judgments that need to be used and made to determine which manuscripts are more authoritative than others. If you are interested in a good book on the subject, I suggest a book called Misquoting Jesus by Bart Ehrman. The KJV was a translation made from original Hebrew (Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament) manuscripts. They had a number of manuscripts to work from and they used many of the same rules and judgments that we would use today to piece together the KJ version of the Bible.

The problem is that the manuscripts that the scholars in the 17th century had at their disposal were not the oldest, nor were they the most reliable of all the documents that have since been discovered in ancient libraries, monasteries, or even archaeological finds. Versions like the NIV or the NRSV were made from what is generally considered to be more reliable manuscripts. This fact plus the fact that they are translated into more modern English make them both more meaningful to me and easier to read.

So there you have it. There is a beauty and poetry to the language in the KJV that is absent in the NRSV. And I do enjoy reading the KJV for the beauty of its rhetoric. Nevertheless, when there is a passage that conflicts with what one finds in the NRSV, I have to defer to the NRSV as more authoritative.

I had coffee this morning with some new friends of mine who are pastors of other churches in town, and one of them brought in a comic that was both funny and disturbing at the same time. It depicted a pastor in front of his congregation spouting “good news.” He said that the membership decline rate was down. “This year,” he said, “we can anticipate a decline of only 5% of our members. It’s a goal that I think we can all be proud of.” It was funny to me because of its obvious parody. But it’s disturbing because the comic accurately represents the present climate found in most churches in North America.

Let me bring something to your attention: since Carrie and I landed here 8 months ago CBC has baptized and confirmed 8 new members. That is terrific, and it somewhat defies the trend that is noted in the above comic. Indeed, if we were to have a baptism and confirmation every month then in 10 years CBC would have 120 new members. Right? Wrong.

National statistic about church growth say that any given church loses attending members by 9 to 10 percent per year. People move, graduate, become disenfranchised, or die. So let’s do some more math. We had 170 people at church this last Sunday. It felt good that our flock had returned from the summer season. But 10 percent of 170 is 17 people that we might expect to see exit out of our church before the next 12 months is over. Because of the laws of percentages, after 10 years, we could expect to see a loss of 111 people. Subtract 111 from potential growth of 120. That leaves a net growth of 9 people over 10 years. That’s only a ½% annual growth rate. And that is only if we continue to attract one new member every month.

I am not writing about this because I want everybody to work harder. In fact, I don’t think I’ve been part of a congregation that works as hard as CBC. Honestly. I instead write about this because I don’t want us to become complacent. Yes, celebrate each and every soul that comes to live in the Community of Christ. But do not ever think that the job is done. The journey is long, and we are only in the middle. We must continue to develop the discipleship of our current members, and we must never forget that one of the most important part of that discipleship is sharing the gospel message with others. But above all, we must seek the Spirit of God . . . because people gather where they feel the Spirit of God.

Here’s a blog to make you think. Tom Arnold’s small group has gone from near zero to sixty since they started studying a new book, and I think that the ideas that are presented in the book have something to do with that (though it could also be that Tom is simply a fabulous teacher). The idea is called radical grace, and it goes something like this: If God is truly first and foremost a God of love, then God would not be a God that would condemn anybody to an eternity of Hell. Further, that means that even a person who has led the most despicable life imaginable could not be cut off from the grace of God because God’s love is perfect and can overcome even the most heinous of sins. Also, the idea of radical grace maintains that even after death a person would have a chance. For instance, even if a bad person dies unrepentant, then a God of perfect love would not say that his or her punishment lasts forever because that would imply that God’s love could never ever reach that person.

So what do you think? Is there a limit to the grace that God extends his creation? Though I tend to think that there is a touch of hubris in trying to answer questions like this one definitively, I tend to think, “no.” My God is first and foremost a God of love, and I would like to think that there is no pocket of darkness in this Universe into which that love cannot shine.

Hello to all members and friends of CBC.  Usually on my blog I write about a topic or a story that is intended to get you to think.  Today, however, I’m writing about the organizational structure of the church.  Today’s blog is simply meant to keep you all up to date so that you can have a better grasp about who we are as a church and what our mission in the community looks like.

In years past, the leadership structure of the pastorate has been clustered around ministry opportunities and programs that the church has developed over the years.  We had a youth commission, a communications commission, building commission and so forth.  There are currently 9 commissions.  The pastorate and I are currently involved in some restructuring that is designed to align us with the rest of the North American church that changes those 9 commissions into 5 (plus 2 administrative teams).  The five commissions are designed to parallel the mission initiatives that have been given to us by our church president Steve Veazy.  The two administrative teams are going to be a building commission and a financial team.  However, the rest of this blog is designed to give you a basic understanding of the five mission initiatives and why we are reorganizing.

Let’s tackle the “why” first.  Our church is a world-wide church.  First, while it is true that CBC has many stand-alone ministries in the Council Bluffs community, I think that we would be fooling ourselves to believe that we could stand alone.  We receive countless services from the mission center and from the world church of which my clergy friends from other denominations are a bit jealous.  Second, we are culturally a world church.  Trying to imagine our church as a stand-alone community church would be like trying to imagine our church without a prophet.  We are connected by a vision of Zion that does not allow us to go it alone.  And third, we desperately need to be a mission driven community.  Essentially, everything that we do together as a church must fit into our mission in the world.  And if it does not, then the activity should not be sponsored by the church.  The mission initiatives give us a focus of mission that we may have been lacking.

So we need to discuss each one briefly.

The first is “Invite people to Christ:  Christ’s mission of evangelism.”  If we are a church without an invitation, then we will only be a church for a few more years.  Anytime you make a new friend, invite somebody to church or even live a life that others want to emulate; you are serving in this initiative.  The church ministries that we offer at CBC along these lines are greeters, seeker’s classes, Time for Teens, etc.

The second is “Abolish poverty, end suffering:  Christ’s mission of compassion.”  I’ve heard a lot of jokes about this one because the initiative seems so vast.  Nevertheless, we are serious as a church about doing what it talks about.  We want to see the world a better place and establish the cause of Zion.  The ministries that we offer at CBC inside this initiative would be our Christmas program, soup kitchen, food pantry, and Open Table (if I ever manage to get it off the ground).

The third is “Pursue Peace on Earth:  Christ’s mission of peace and justice.”  Peace is more than just the absence of war.  It is the presence of the Spirit of God which makes us better people and a better community.  Some of the activities that we can classify as peace building at CBC would be Pages for Peace, the community garden, interfaith work, or anything devoted to ecology.  These activities are intended to bring people closer and seek peaceful solutions.

The fourth is “Develop Disciples to Serve—Equip Individuals for Christ’s Mission.”  Every time you teach somebody something about God you are participating in this mission initiative.  Likewise when you learn something about God.  It is for children.  It is for adults.  It is about the accumulation of knowledge, and it is about creation of wisdom.  It is also about mentoring.  We must pass on what we have learned about God in order to accomplish anything from any of the above three initiatives.

The fifth is “Experience Congregations in Mission—Equip Congregations for Christ’s Mission.”  Every time we gather we take a piece of this initiative.  In congregations we worship, learn, sing, visit the sick and the lonely, and otherwise build relationships.

So there you have it.  This is our mission as a church:  evangelism, compassion, peace and justice, learning, and living in community.  If you’d like to take some time and learn more about these initiatives, I encourage you to visit this link:  http://www.cofchrist.org/mission/.

A quote from one of my favorite musical groups goes like this:  “Grace.  It’s a name for a girl.  It’s also a thought that could change the world.”  In fact, the word Grace is so meaningful to my wife and I that we gave it to Samantha as her middle name.  And what a concept it is.  Do you know the difference between Karma and Grace?  Karma is where the Universe pays you back exactly as you deserve.  Grace takes no account of what you deserve.  Grace is where God gives you every good thing whether you deserve it or not.  Grace is unconditional, perfect, pure, and otherwise life-giving love.

I remember clearly being in the 8th grade—before I had a concept of Grace—wondering if I would ever find somebody besides my parents who loved me.  I think a lot of youth in middle school feel this way—maybe most of them.  But it was also about this time when I started to wake up to the eternal love of God.  And I remember devoting my life to God in middle school; I promised service for life.

I now know that God does not expect me to keep that promise.  Because of the very nature of Grace I know that God loves me even if I break that promise, have a relapse, or forget.  But because I know ... how can I break my promise?  If you know of God’s Grace then you have already made your choice.  God bless you and your commitment.

Good day to you members and friends of CBC.  Many people asked me after church on Sunday if there was a way that I could outline my thoughts over what I’m calling my mini-series on volunteer inspiration.  Therefore, I’m using this blog to do this now.  Below are the basics of the sermon that I gave on Sunday, July 10.  The theme was “Sow Good Seeds.”  The scripture in question came from Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23.

The sermon started with a call to look inward on a mystical journey, and I told the congregation that they would be taking two of the four steps that I would eventually be speaking about over the course of the mini-series.  The first step is finding one’s seed . . . the spiritual side of life.

Finding Your Seed.  There is difficulty finding one’s seed because nobody has the ability to look back that far in life to meet the one that planted it.  It would be like trying to remember one’s own birth.  Also, one has little evidence of one’s own spirit.  Nevertheless, there are ways that different types of people tend to find that precious gift.  One is reason.  It stands to reason that if you believe that God is ultimately loving that God would not leave God’s creation without having planted a spiritual seed.  God didn’t make any junk; therefore, you have also been given this gift because you are a part of God’s creation.  A second way to locate your seed is by reading scripture.  There are quite a few examples of new beginnings where characters in the Bible find their seeds, but the one that I chose to mention was the creation of Adam in Genesis.  In this story it states that Adam was created of earth and that God breathed life into him.  This is called the Ruah Addoni, the breath of God.  And it is my belief that God continues to breath into the creation of each life.  A third way to find one’s seed is by reading signs.  Each person has experiences in his or her life that tend to point to a divine influence.  On Sunday, I told the story of when I first fell in love as a 12-year-old and sought God’s direction.  I woke up to God in that experience and in a sense my seed germinated on that day when I discovered that God had answered my prayers.  Finally, I believe there is a mystical way to discover one’s seed through instinct.  A handful of people have experiences that simply lead them to believe that they are but travelers on life’s highway.  Even the air that he or she breathes during this experience may seem strange.  It is a feeling of being other-worldly . . . a feeling of the seed alone . . . not covered or influenced by the body.

Pause for Reflection.  In your lifetime have you located your seed?  It is important that you do so.  It is important that you realize that you are a spiritual being and that God has given you the gift of your seed.  If you have not yet located it, then you must continue to search because if you don’t have this realization in your life, then you cannot go any further.  You won’t be able to understand the next three steps.

Nurturing Your Plant.  This is the next step, yet the final step that I spoke of on July 10.  First, you should take a moment to read the scripture listed above.  Jesus gives the parable of seeds and then he interprets it for you.  I, also have some interpretation to add.  When I think of seeds being planted, I think of 4 special ingredients that are necessary for a plant to begin to grow and to thrive.  One, I think of soil, and I’d like for soil to represent your past or your baggage that you carry with you.  In order to nurture your seed, you must answer the following question in your life:  “What needs of reconciliation or forgiveness do I have in my life?”  The second ingredient is water.  Water could represent your present life.  There are spiritual practices that you should be engaged in on a daily basis if you are to nurture your plant; therefore, you must ask yourself this question as well:  “How’s your prayer life?”  Sunlight is a third ingredient if your seed is to make it beyond its initial germination, and sunlight could be the company that you keep or the choices that you make.  The question that you should ask yourself is this:  “Do you make positive choices and do those around you feed your seed or try to choke it?”  Finally, a new plant cannot take strong competition from weeds.  Weeds, I think could be any worldly temptations that keep us from our spirituality.  Your question should be “Will you forget about the needs of your seed?”

The conclusion of this day ends here.  If you nurture your seed, it begins to take root in your life.  Your spirit will grow.  You will have talents that will emerge that, perhaps, surprise you.  Today the seed has been a metaphor of God’s love and Grace in your life.  Next Sunday we will be talking about your response to that love and Grace.

Lately we have been giving Samantha swimming lessons; and she had a breakthrough a couple of weeks ago.  I bought her a pair of goggles, and she instantly began to feel more confident with putting her head down . . . which brought her feet up nearer to the surface so that she could kick a lot more effectively.  I took her to the YMCA and we practiced jumping off the edge of the pool and swimming back unassisted.  She did it, and she did it well.  I praised her a lot and told the whole family and a handful of friends how we how had one more swimmer in the family.  So in Samantha’s mind she could now—well—swim.  Though in reality she could not swim well.

A few days later, I took her to a pool that had a water slide.  She wanted to go down the slide with all of her heart.  She was confident that she could do it all by herself.  I was not so confident, but I paid the extra $1 so that she could have access to the slide.  And while she climbed up the ladder that led to the top of the slide, I had a talk with the life guard at the bottom and told him to be ready to jump in if she couldn’t make it to the edge.  He hopped down from his stool and stood ready.  Down came Samantha with a big grin on her face.  She took a big breath and put her head down trying to swim to the edge of the pool, but the current was too strong.  She tried two more times but couldn’t make any more progress as she was trapped in a swirling eddy in the middle of where the two slides dumped into the pool.  She went down for a third time and didn’t have enough strength to surface again, and the life guard jumped in to pick her out of the water.

She was perfectly safe the whole time; she had the lifeguard to rely on, and she had me even if the lifeguard had not done his duty well.  Nevertheless, Samantha was scared and embarrassed and has told me that she never wants to go down a water slide again.  Now, I know that she will because Samantha really hates defeat.  But that doesn’t diminish her feelings of anxiety about the next time she tries.

The life lesson of the event is pretty obvious.  When we experience defeat and/or failure, do we let the anxiety of the next time keep us from trying again?  The fear of potential pain keeps us from trying.  But I ask myself what Christianity would have been like if Jesus had let the fear of pain influence his decision to enter Jerusalem for the last time.  Would Jesus have been anybody worthy of following had he turned away from the sacrifice that he was called to meet?
 
So don’t give up.  We are all learning.  Some of us are better at pretending that we know what we are doing in life; but really we are all simply trying to keep our head up and keep breathing.

The title of this blog comes from an old campfire song that some of you may be familiar with.  It’s a simple, two-line song that says, “Make new friends, but keep the old; one is silver but the other gold.”  I am reminded of it today because of a handful of new friends that I have made in the last few weeks.  And I am reminded of how precious real friendship is.

Friendship has no agenda because love with an agenda isn’t really love.  Therefore, a real friend doesn’t need you in their life; a real friend wants to be a part of your life.  And this is why I think that Jesus was lonely quite often.  He never had trouble meeting new people.  He had an amazing message to offer and incredible spiritual gifts to share.  He was constantly crowded by people who wanted him to heal their loved ones or give them hope or argue their case for them because of the authority that he exuded.  But there are few examples in the scripture of people who just wanted to be with him and not take anything from the visit.  One example does come to mind, however:  Mary, sister of Martha and Lazareth (Luke 10:38-42).  She sat with Jesus and simply had a conversation—meanwhile catching grief from her sister for not helping play the hostess.  It must have felt wonderful to be Jesus at that moment.  He had a moment of peace where Mary was not afraid to approach him nor was she asking anything from him.

Think for a moment about the people with which you share your time.  Do they fill you up like Mary?  We must seek for relationships like those that Jesus had with Mary.  Though many of you have wells that run deep, they can be overused if not refilled with the love of God and the love of God through our real life-affirming friends.  Take a moment to thank God for those in your life who are your friends.

I have been travelling down the road of familial bliss this last week.  In one hour my youngest daughter worships the ground that my oldest daughter walks on and my oldest daughter thinks that the little one is the cutest thing in the whole wide world.  The next hour,  neither of them can stand to breathe the same air.  It’s an adventure every morning.  I wonder which kind of day it’s going to be.  But you know what?  I sure do love them.

I feel the same way about spending time at the church sometime.  It is literally an adventure every time I spend the day at CBC.  One day, I could be there all by myself—contentedly plunking away on my computer and planning my sermons and my plans for the future.  The next day, I could have half-a-dozen people walk in off the street looking for various kinds of support.  Another day, our facility could have 4 things break.  But I sure do love my church.

My sense of adventure is growing every day.  I think my daughters are growing a sense of adventure too—though they still appreciate a solid schedule (and so do I).  Nevertheless, I sometimes wonder if I would ever develop any sense of adventure if it weren’t for the love that I feel.  Why would I want to grow and change if I weren’t in love?  I’d probably be satisfied with sitting on my couch.

Come with me.  Grow in Love.  Be Adventurous.

I remember in my youth an experience that brought me close together with a group of friends.  I was travelling through northern California on a church sponsored activity in an old Volkswagen Bus with 11 other people—yes we were well over the capacity that the bus was designed for.  It was so hot on that day that we were travelling down the freeway with the sliding door wide open at highway speeds.  Risk Management (which then did not exist) would certainly not have been very happy with what we were doing.   It was, in fact, 106 degrees that day, and the bus started having problems overheating.  This should be no big surprise, I know, given the fact that we probably doubled the weight capacity for the bus.

But that is beside the point of the story.  We broke down.  The bus would go no further.  We were lucky that we had a mechanic on the bus with us, and he determined that it was simply too hot for the air-cooled Volkswagen engine to continue.  The gasoline was boiling in the tank.  Therefore, to get it running again, we’d have to cool it down.  That meant that we’d have to push the bus to the nearest gas station or store and put ice on the engine or put fresh, cool fuel in the tank (and no longer drive with that many youth crammed inside).

We did so.  We pushed and we pushed, hot and sweaty.  A few overheated youth stayed inside the bus while the rest of us pushed, but they received a lot of verbal abuse for doing so.  We pushed it for a half-mile and made it to the gas station and used both ice and cool fuel; but there was one other thing wrong with the bus that I failed to mention—it had a bad starter.  Every time we wanted to use the old bus, we had to push-start it.  But that didn’t particularly concern us; old Volkswagens were really easy to push-start.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the process of push-starting it is a simple matter of putting the car in first or second gear (stick-shift of course) and pushing down the clutch so that the car would roll freely.  Then when it is going, perhaps, 5 miles per hour the driver pops the clutch to force the engine to turn over and start.

So we proceeded to push-start the car.  It didn’t work.  We tried again and again and again.  It didn’t work.  We thought maybe that the engine block had melted in the heat.  Finally, when we were about to give up, exhausted from pushing the car over and over again, the driver spoke, “Oh, I forgot to turn the key on.”  We pushed it one last time and it fired right up.  And after we were done giving the driver some more verbal abuse; we celebrated that it was over and that our teamwork succeeded.

I was thinking of this story today because of a conversation I had with a new friend of mine who asked me, “What do you think it would take to unite the faith community in Council Bluffs?”  I had two answers ready for him.  The first was that hardship unites.  If Council Bluffs floods—as it looks more and more likely that it might—you would see a unification of the churches in town greater than anything that may have happened in the past.  But how long would it last?  Of all the people involved in my Volkswagen experience above, I only remember who the driver was.  I don’t remember the others that were riding with me.  My second answer to my new friend was that we would need a central issue, a rallying point, that the churches could get behind.  Of course, as I’ve mentioned in this blog before “poverty” is the issue that I would choose to rally around.

So here is the way that I’d like to abruptly conclude my blog for the week.  Let us stand united both within our church and outside our church with others.  Let us not wait for a flood.  There is no really good reason why we can’t work together within our community with others of good heart.  Hardship unites and misery certainly loves company, but God’s call to community doesn’t start and end with calamity.  The voice of God whispers always to us to stand together and fight destructive forces that seek to divide.

It’s been nearly 5 months since my family and I moved to Council Bluffs, and in that time I’ve had a few people comment to me about how they appreciate my leadership style.  I’m not naïve, however, to the fact that there are likely others—and there always will be others—who will struggle with any pastor’s leadership style.  Therefore, I just wanted to take a moment to describe to you what I think that I’m doing with Council Bluffs Central.

First and foremost, I call myself a “Puller” not a “Pusher”.  A pusher is a leader that is best understood as a general, who lines his/her troops up, makes a plan, and puts that plan into action.  He tells people where to go and how to perform and when.  A pusher is also like a cue ball on a billiards table.  It strikes the other balls, and they go where they are pushed.  A puller is a leader who is best described as a bridge.  He or she stands in the gap . . . ahead of the people and lets them see a way to cross the divide.  A puller can also be described as a force of gravity.  The sun has a very strong gravitational force and though there are many rocks in space that collide and bounce off of one another, that gravity also serves as the uniting force that puts the planets in order and moves them through space in an intricate dance.

Second, I endeavor to be an excellent communicator.  Both pullers and pushers depend on the trust of the congregation.  Therefore, it is my intention to be as transparent as possible without breaking the many confidences that are placed in my trust each week.  And transparency of that level requires that I talk to you, write to you, call you, and speak to you with regularity.  Please be assured that I appreciate direct communication.  If you are happy about something at CBC, please let me know.  If you are not happy, please let me know that as well.  I figure that confrontation is a step in the right direction over silent dissent.  I don’t want anybody at CBC to vote with their feet.

Third, and most importantly, I desire the Holy Spirit’s direction in my leadership.  I take time each week to pray, and I urge you to do the same.  The Spirit—at many times in my life—has given me direction in life.  I believe that God’s Spirit is continually trying to speak with us about new directions. Those instructions can be downright hard sometimes, but always right.  There is never a time in a person’s life or a congregation’s life when the Spirit of God stops talking.  It is never too late in life to listen to the Spirit, and there is never too soon a time to follow the Spirit’s direction.  I pray that we might discern together what direction we are meant to be heading.

For this week, I pray that the Lord may shine his countenance upon you and give you peace.

When one speaks to people in church and asks them to define poverty he or she usually hears, “a lack of money.”   I have grown very weary of that very common definition.  In my experience, poverty is not simply a lack of money, and it cannot—therefore—be resolved with a cash infusion.  Poverty is a lack of opportunity, and that lack of opportunity can be caused by various situations.  Yes, a lack of money is one such situation or barrier.  But other walls that block those doors of opportunity are—being a minority, being female, having a differing sexual orientation, not speaking a common language, having an addiction, or simply bad luck.  More than anything, however, the one thing that those in poverty possess that keeps them in poverty is a lack of connections to other individuals.  They have no family on which they can rely, and all of their friends are in similar circumstances.  They don’t know the people who can lift them up and carry them forth from poverty.  Poverty is relationship poor.

It’s time for me to start talking about my experience with Open Table.  Open Table is an organization and a model that works with churches that assists individuals one-at-a-time to escape the bonds of poverty.  My story with Open Table begins with a friend and colleague of mine who works as the director of a halfway house for recovering prostitutes.  We were at a church leadership meeting together, and he told me how he believed that middle class churches, in his experience, weren’t really interested in getting their hands dirty and serving the poor.  He stated that churches will talk a good talk but that when push comes to shove, they will back off of poverty issues and choose themselves first.  I told him that he was wrong, but I was extremely challenged by that statement.  I was challenged because even though my church was seeking ways to serve the poor, the kinds of activities that we were involved in were not exactly making major changes in our community.  They were good, benevolent acts like making lunches for the homeless, providing activities for homeless children, or raising money for good causes.  But systemically, nothing was changing.  Poverty seemed just as strong, and I was worried that my colleague may have been right.

But I don’t like to be wrong, so that’s when I began searching for a partnership that would make us a stronger church that sought out the end of poverty.  Open Table seemed like a good fit for what I was seeking.  I was seeking a program that would align our theology with our action, but I received much, much more than I intended.

When I started the table at my church, the Community of Christ in Phoenix, I thought it was going to be a program where our group of volunteers helped a brother or sister or family stay focused to accomplish a set of goals.  Well, it was that, but that activity cannot describe the content of the table.  We did work with our brother and sister (and children) to accomplish goals, but what I have learned is that the goals were very flexible—perhaps as flexible as the Holy Spirit itself.  What has proven to be even more valuable than the goal work is the relationship between us.  I have made some friends in this process, and those bonds of friendship have opened the hearts and minds of our brother and sister.  The relationship allowed them to grow beyond the limits of their goals.

And this relationship building ran both ways.  It opened my heart to miracles that I did not see before participating in a real way with poverty.  I’ve sought out other Open Table graduates and listened to their stories.  And in those stories I have noticed one thing that is universal.  Relationships are everything!  I am convinced that if a person is looking for God that the one place that he or she has to look is the space that dwells between two lives.  A life that goes from isolation to dwelling in relationship is a victory for God, and miracles happen every time someone manages to make the transition out of poverty.

If I find that anybody is interested, I will include one or two of those stories in future blogs.  And if anybody is interested in Open Table, you can visit their website.

What does that word Sabbath mean to you?  In the Hebrew scriptures it meant the 7th day of the week . . . a day where God rested after toiling to create the world and a day where you are also supposed to rest.  Because the ancient Jewish culture used the first 5 books of the Bible as their book of law, Sabbath was originally a concept that meant that an employer or master could not work anybody—even a slave—for seven days a week.  It was a labor law.  The scripture says that God rested; we should rest too.  As time passed, there were many rules and regulations ascribed to what one could or couldn’t do on a Sabbath day; but I submit that at its essence the word Sabbath means “rest” – maybe even “holy rest”.

So what shouldn’t you do on a Sabbath day?  Well, if you are a plumber, it means that you shouldn’t work with plumbing on the Sabbath.  If you are a teacher, you shouldn’t teach.  If you are a police officer, you shouldn’t arrest anybody for a day.  What should you do on a Sabbath day?  You should do those things which build up your life and your relationships that you haven’t been able to focus on while you were working.  Play with your kids or grandkids.  Call your mom (and not just because it was Mother’s Day).  Above all, the Sabbath is supposed to be a holy day; we are called to have days set aside from the others in our lives to intentionally seek God.

I spent two days in Sabbath this weekend.  I found God so easily in the smiles of my nephews as they both caught fish.  Thank you God for giving me moments of Sabbath.

I’m two for two.  Pretty proud of myself, but I know that really what has happened has come from God and not from me.  I spoke of recognizing those who are invisible on Sunday.  And I’ve done so once before as well.  Both times resulted in the same thing.  God put those invisibles (or I finally recognized them) in my path.

The first time was in a small Arizona town called Show Low.  We had finished church and were headed out to eat at McDonalds.  It was a good place to go after church because we had small children with us and they could play while we talked.  At the driveway of McDonalds was a young man who was stranded in Arizona looking for a ride to get him part-way home.  I asked him to eat with us, and he gladly accepted.  He never asked us for money, and we enjoyed a nice meal together as he told us of his miss-adventures in Arizona.

On Sunday, we also focused on the invisibles, and after my sermon I started to look around the congregation at who had joined us.  I noticed that we had 6 people in our congregation on Sunday who were either homeless or otherwise precariously housed—those whom I would say have a close and personal relationship with poverty.  Two of them I had never seen before.  After church, though our resources were short, I invited them to lunch; three of them accepted.  It was an experience that I won’t soon forget . . . each one had a unique story and each one had endearing personality quirks that made me want to love them.

Indeed, I have had much more experience with the poor than just these two experiences after church.  But both of these instances tell me that God is trying to speak to me:  “Don’t be afraid of those different from you.  Offer what you can.  Offer your friendship.  Be generous in Spirit.”  So if you are looking for a challenge, here it is.  Look around you for somebody that would normally be invisible to you; take that someone out to lunch and listen to their stories.  Make a friend out of somebody who is vastly different from you.

What strength do I have, that I should still hope?  What prospects, that I should be patient?  Do I have the strength of stone?  Is my flesh bronze? –Job 6:10-11.

If you grew up like I did, you’ll be aware of the term “the patience of Job.”  Until I actually read the book of Job, I knew that he was supposed to be the paragon of patience.  The fact of the matter is that Job is probably the best example of impatience in the whole Bible.  And it is because of his impatience that I love him so much; he reminds me of myself (and he really reminds me of my little daughter).  How many times have I repeated words similar to Job’s like, “How long do I have to wait, God?”  And how many times has my daughter said, “But I want to do it now!”?  Impatience tends to grow from fear, a multifaceted fear having to do with ignorance regarding the future or ignorance of one’s own purpose.  Yet even my daughter is currently learning that the cure for impatience is trust.  She is learning to trust in her father, and so am I.  Trust in those around you is the cure for run-of-the-mill impatience.  Trust in God is the prerequisite for cosmic patience.

O God my God, thank you for allowing me to breath in and out each day.  I confess that I sometimes live in fear of the unknown, but please provide me with the faith that I need in you so that I can be a more patient individual.  Bless me and my loved ones with trust.  Amen.

I know that I’m a bit of a nerd for loving poetry, but I studied it for years and I’m owning up to my nerdity.  Below is a poem that was written by my favorite poet, John Donne.  He was a devoted, albeit dark, sort of guy.  Late in his life he was obsessed with death to the point of having his portrait painted in his coffin before he died.  Nevertheless this poem, written at an earlier time in his life, has a unique picture of the crucifixion and how the speaker within the poem feels as he finds himself travelling westward on Good Friday . . . a day when his attention should be turned towards the east.  I apologize in advance for the difficult nature of the language.  It was written literally on Good Friday 1613; therefore, the language may seem Shakespearean to you.

If you take the time to read and understand it, please think about how you transfer the emotion in the poem to your own life.  Ask yourself the following questions.  Where is your attention turned on the day of Good Friday?  Where should it be turned?

Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward
Let mans Soule be a Spheare, and then, in this,
The intelligence that moves, devotion is
And as the other Spheares, by being growne
Subject to forraigne motions, lose their owne
And being by others hurried every day,
Scarce in a yeare their natural! forme obey:
Pleasure or businesse, so, our Soules admit
For their first mover, and are whirld by it.
Hence is''s, that I am carryed towards the West
This day, when my Soules forme bends toward the East.
There I should see a Sunne, by rising set,
And by that setting endlesse day beget;
But that Christ on this Crosse, did rise and fall,
Sinne had eternally benighted all.
Yet dare almost be glad, I do not see
That spectacle of too much weight for meet
Who sees Gods face, that is selfe life, must dye;
What a death were it then to see God dye?
It made his owne Lieutenant Nature shrinke,
It made his footstoole crack, and the Sunne winke.
Could I behold those hands which span the Poles,
And tune all spheares at once, peirc''d with those holes?
Could I behold that endlesse height which is
Zenith to us, and to''our Antipodes,
Humbled below us? or that blood which is
The seat of all our Soules, if not of his,
Make curt of dust, or that flesh which was worne
By God, for his apparel!, rag''d, and tome?
If on these things I durst not looke, durst I
Upon his miserable mother cast mine eye,
Who was Gods partner here, and furnish''d thus
Halfe of that Sacrifice, which ransom''d us?
Though these things, as I ride, be from mine eye,
They''are present yet unto my memory,
For that looks towards them; and thou look''st towards mee,
O Saviour, as thou hang''st upon the tree;
I turne my backe to thee, but to receive
Corrections, till thy mercies bid thee leave.
O thinke mee worth shine anger, punish mee,
Burne off my rusts, and my deformity,
Restore shine Image, so much, by thy grace,
That thou may''st know mee, and I''ll turne my face.

On Sunday, I chose to play with a big group of kids so that their parents could watch President Veazey’s sermon.  So I didn’t get to watch it when it aired.  I just finished watching it now, however, and I have a couple of observations.  (If you haven’t yet watched the sermon, you should do so the next time you have an extra 45 minutes to spare.  I think it’s very much worth your time; I’ve always felt that it’s a good thing to be in synch with the rest of the Community of Christ.  You can find it by clicking here.)

There are many people and many churches out there that preach that you will be rewarded or punished after death depending upon your conduct in life.  Maybe you are one of those people; I don’t know.  And because I understand how this perspective started, I don’t find a great deal of fault with it.  Preaching of the rewards in the life-to-come began, essentially, in historic times of great poverty.  Those who had nothing were able to glean hope in the life to come—when their current life had little, if any, hope.

The Community of Christ, however, takes a different stance on this topic.  It’s not that you won’t be judged upon death.  Maybe you will be and maybe you won’t be.  But my understanding of the Community of Christ is that hope is something that we are called to build in this life . . . that we aren’t supposed to wait for the next life without working as hard as we can to make this place a little bit better while we live.  We are called to make Zion.  And Zion is a concept that, I think, is uniquely Community of Christ.  At least, our version of Zion is unique.  Zion doesn’t mean that you have to deny an afterlife with God.  In fact, I believe that there is a life after death.  However, to me it does mean that life after death is less important that the life that you are living now.  A belief in Zion trusts that God will take care of you when you die, but it knows that this life is where God wants us to live for the time being.

I heard this message loudly when President Veazy spoke.  I heard him speaking of the mission of Zion.  Bring people to Christ; feed them literally and spiritually; pursue peace and justice.  It’s simple, powerful, and meaningful.

Ok everybody.  It’s time to get out your theological dictionaries.  We’re going to talk about existentialism according to Don today.  I have to confess that it is my personal favorite theology, so yes I am biased.  In fact, I have a tattoo on my leg of a quote by Soren Kierkegaard, the father of existentialism, that says, “I do not lack the courage to think a thought whole.”  But all of that is neither here nor there.

Here how the idea of existentialism came into being.  Many of you may have heard of Hegel, a German philosopher who believed that history moved through a series of rational movements and that everything could be explained by the use of reason.  His most famous idea was how he thought history could be explained using the words “Thesis”—a new idea or concept which is eventually challenged by an “Antithesis”—the opposition of the new idea.  These two forces push against one another and create a “Synthesis”—a blending of the two ideas which becomes the next thesis.  Further, Hegel believed that reason was far more superior than faith.  Faith was supposed to be a starting point and reason perfected the growth of a human being.

Kierkegaard didn’t like that idea at all.  In fact, he became Hegel’s antithesis by stating that one starts with reason and that eventually reason reaches its limits.  Beyond certain points, Kierkegaard would say, is only darkness that the mind cannot explore.  But that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing out there.  He would say that the only way to go beyond the limits of reason is to take a leap of faith.  Doing so is an immensely difficult and heroic act.  After all, jumping from a precipice without knowing what is out there is supremely scary.  It’s like being led to a cliff with your eyes closed and told to jump.  There are many examples of people in our scriptures who decided to hold to their faith in the face of reasonable opposition:  Abraham, Ruth, Joshua, Moses, even Jesus.  In fact, I think it is probably much harder to find people in scripture who reason through their problems and much easier to find examples of being faithful.

How can this knowledge be helpful?  I know that theological discussion can get lost in the higher atmosphere and lose its relevance.  But existentialism has been most helpful to me over the years.  Here’s how.  Are you at your wit’s end?  Is there a problem of yours out there upon which you feel you have exhausted your possibilities and it still won’t go away?  Is there something out there that—try as you might—you just can’t understand?  Then relax, take a breath, and jump.  It may not lead to a perfect decision, but it will lead you out of limbo and into life.  Don’t let the world trap you in a box.  Jump off the metaphorical cliff and let your faith in God catch you.

I have many favorite scriptures, but one of them comes from the book of Ruth.  Allow me to set the scene.  Naomi was a woman married to Elimelech, and they had two sons.  Both of those sons married women from a different tribe; they were named Orpah and Ruth.  All the men in their family died, which left Naomi and her two daughters-in-law.  That also left them in a very precarious position.  As women in this time, they had no income apart from their husbands or extended family.  But they had no connections other than each other.  So Naomi begged her Orpah and Ruth to leave and to go back to their families because it was going to be a rough road to make a living.  Orpah went away, but Ruth replied to Naomi, “Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you!  Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.  Where you die, I will die—there will I be buried.  May the lord do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!” (Ruth 1:16-17).

Family commitment.  Who is your family?  To whom would you say something like this?  If you are married, you have likely made a commitment similar to this on your wedding day.  If you have children you have likely made a commitment like this in your heart if you have not said it out loud.  Perhaps there are others in your life that you feel this attached to.  Ruth and Naomi were neither married nor were they blood related, yet they found a bond that was too strong to risk cutting even at the precipice of poverty.  This kind of attachment, I think, is an absolute good.  In fact, I think that refusing to commit to other human beings locks one away in a prison of isolation.  And on the other hand, committing to another person frees that person to explore the depth of love that God intended.  Funny how it seems backwards isn’t it?

This week, I want to share with you not some of my thoughts but a prayer that has endured for nearly 800 years.  When you have time, please read it and reflect:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

I know that a lot of you out there have probably tried dieting and had some success.  And I know that a lot of you out there have probably failed at dieting too.  I have found that as I get older that dieting has become harder and harder.  I love to exercise, so that part of my life has never much needed a boost.  However, I have a terrible time controlling my appetite . . . even to the point that when I was running 24 miles a week training for a half-marathon a few years back, I was still gaining weight.

Well, I lost 5 pounds last week.  It was the result of a 7-day fast.  I didn’t intend to lose weight.  As a fast, I had spiritual goals in mind instead.  I have a couple of questions that I want God to answer, and so to better hear God, I decided to skip breakfast and lunch for 7 days.  It worked to an extent.  I was able to hear God better, but I don’t think I’ll ever be without more questions.

Why am I telling you this?  It occurred to me in the middle of the week that my weight loss was just a symptom of spiritual health.  It is hard to diet when you are focused on food.  But when I was focused on prayer, I wasn’t even hungry.  In fact, there were a couple of days when I didn’t miss food at all.  I ate dinner because I knew that it would be good for my body, but I could have gone the whole day without food because I wasn’t focused on it.

I think that our health as a congregation reflects the journey that I had this week.  If we want our congregation to be healthy, we cannot simply focus on the mechanics of our programs—tinkering with them until we reach some mystic secret formula that we can duplicate year after year.  We instead must focus on the spiritual health of our people and our gatherings.  People thrive and flock to locations where God’s Holy Spirit visits, and I pray that this might be one of those places.

In the fierce arena of competing ideology, I have a story that I want to share with you that teaches one to evaluate his or her priorities.  It is taken from my youth and it has to do with a growing relationship that I had with a couple of senior citizens.

When I was growing up, I lived in a small town.  Perhaps it wasn’t small by Iowa standards, but it felt pretty small to me.  About 15,000 people lived there.  We had a small church there in Roseburg, Oregon.  My dad was pastor of it for many years.  The church usually had about 30 people who came on Sunday morning, but there were years when typical attendance ran up to 60 and down to about 15 over the 12 years that we lived in that city.  My sister and I found ourselves in a youth group bubble.  There were no youth within 5 years older or younger than us, so it felt lonely at times.  Luckily, my father became District President after a while, so I had plenty of opportunities to travel with him to see my church friends in other cities.

In that congregation was where I turned 8-years-old late in 1980.  And as an 8-year-old in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I wanted to be baptized.  I vividly remember a conversation that took place in the kitchen of that church in Roseburg about three months prior to my baptismal service which was to take place at camp in the summer.  I was asked who I wanted to baptize me, and I was given a list of people I knew who could do it.  My father was on that list, but when I saw another name, Lester Davis, I immediately chose him.  He was older than my grandparents, but he made me feel special in my first two years in Roseburg.  My father was surprised that I didn’t  pick him, but to his credit he was not hurt.

Lester, his wife Catherine, and our family began forming a relationship at that point that turned out to be very special.  By 1984, we invited them to go on a special family vacation to Yosemite National Park.  It was a very memorable trip full of laughs that literally doubled us over and made us cry because we couldn’t stop.  You know what I’m talking about.  Good belly laughs.  At about this same time in church history you will note that our church was going through a tough time.  It was at this time that women were being allowed to join the priesthood, and there were many of churches that had a tough time accepting this.  Many churches were dividing and fighting.

Fast forward now to 2002.  Nearly 20 years later, Catherine and Lester have died, but I received some vital information about them from my mother.  She told me that in 1985 Catherine and Lester seriously considered leaving the church because of women in the priesthood.  But, she also told me, they both decided that if they had left that my sister and I would not have had a friend at church.  They stayed for the two of us.

First and foremost, I am grateful to them.  They were right.  My sister and I had few relationships holding us at church in that small congregation.  Second, I still miss them.  In fact, I chose Catherine as my oldest girl’s middle name just to remind me of her name’s-sake.  And third, what a lesson!  Catherine and Lester put people before ideology.  Relationship before theology.  And thank God for them; had they made a different decision, I would have had two fewer role models.  Should our church ever go through the struggles that we did in the mid 80’s I pray that each of you remember this story.

Carrie and I were recently in the car together on the way to a church retreat in Nebraska City.  We had dropped Samantha off with grandpa for the weekend, and we were excited to be spending the weekend without children.  We hadn’t had a weekend without kids for more than a year.  The first thing that we did when we got back into the car after dropping Samantha off was plug in Carrie’s Ipod and start listening to songs that had nothing to do with clapping hands or learning the ABC’s.  Serenity Now!

All joking aside, what we found when we began listening was a deeply emotional and spiritual experience.  We both began crying as we listened to Macy Grey’s “There is Beauty in the World.”  We realized at that moment that we had not had enough music in our lives.  We realized that we had been so focused on our move and the struggles that were involved in the physical side of our lives that we had been ignoring our quality of life.  At least that is what I began understanding from the experience.  You’ll have to talk to Carrie to see if she remembers it like that.  All I know is that Carrie and I have both been working on exploring I-tunes a lot more in search of new songs to add to our ever growing “positive music playlist.”

The beauty of the music so pierced me that I’m still affected.  So I want to do a little imaginative exercise with you that will help you come to understand how I feel about God through metaphor.  I am going to give you a few things to visualize, and I want you to take a few seconds to visualize each suggestion before you move on to the next one.

First, think of some good music . . .

Now visualize a large room with people dancing to it . . .

Who is there? . . .

How are they dressed? . . .

Is it crowded? . . .

How is the room decorated? . . .

Is there food? . . .

Are there people ignoring the music? . . .

Are there some who are better dancers than others? . . .

God is in this room with you.  In this imaginary scene, God isn’t in the food or the furniture or the dance-floor or even in the air that you are breathing.  God is the music.  God is the rhythm and the melody that guides your movement.  God are the sound waves that go all the way through your body, invisible, but powerful.

There are many who don’t like to dance to the music; there are even some who don’t like to listen to it.  But what kind of life is a life without music?  What is there to follow on a dance-floor if there is no music to guide you?  Music is the reason that the dance-floor was created, so I invite you to put music back into your lives . . . if you are like me . . . and have forgotten to listen.  And do as the Psalmist suggests:  “Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!  Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!  Praise him with clanging cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!  Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord!” –Psalm 150:3-6.

Do you come to church to hear the sermons? I would wager that very many people who just read that question answer, “No.” And that is interesting to me because 100 years ago, that was the number one reason why a person would come to church. 100 years ago, sermons were an art form of entertainment. A good preacher knew how to craft the spoken word into a roller coaster ride of emotional, logical and spiritual crescendos.

In fact, the good sermon was one of the primary tools used to build our church. Anybody who was raised in our church knows the story of the dedication of the Kirtland Temple and how the people crammed into the building and peered into the widows nearly all day to hear the sermons that we being spun inside the building. I have heard that event described in terms similar to that found in Acts chapter 2 where the Holy Spirit visited the disciples during Pentecost.

Well the world has changed just a little in the past 100 years. The art form of preaching is more and more rarified. What do we do? Do we replace the preacher with musicians? Many churches have done just that and have shown great success. Do we revive the art of preaching by remediation? There are indeed a handful of people with natural talent that can be taught to be amazing orators. Do we offer alternatives to worship that involve more participation and testimony? Some people never feel connected to the Spirit of God unless they take part. I think the answer to all of these is yes.

A while back in Missouri, two of our churches decided that they wanted an objective evaluation of how their church looked to visitors.  So they partnered with each other, and each church rounded up three or four volunteers to visit the others’ church on an undisclosed Sunday in order to give both churches grades on things like welcoming ministry, classes, and worship.  It was important that those who participated had never been to the other church.

To me, the results of the study were very interesting.  One of the visitors noted that she wasn’t even sure which door to the church to enter so it made her uncomfortable when she entered a part of the church where there were no people.  Another noted that while he were immediately welcomed by somebody at the door that he had no idea what was going on in the building and was uncomfortable when he had to ask about classes.  And they had opinions about worship too.  One person reported that she was appalled when visitors were expected to stand and introduce themselves; she felt that if she were a true visitor that that expectation alone would keep her from coming back again.  And another, younger evaluator said that the church she was visiting simply had a very boring church service and felt that the worship wasn’t really relevant.

Do any of those evaluations convict you?  All I have to say is ouch!  They were right.  It is very common (and also very understandable) that we get into grooves and get comfortable with the culture of our church.  In fact, the longer one has been going to any single congregation the guiltier he or she may be of forgetting about the visitor.  Do you have the ability to objectify your perspective the next time you walk into the church building?  What do your surroundings say to you if you were to walk into the building for the first time?  What do they say to you if you are a youth?

Stepping into a $5,000,000 building with a 150 year old history can be very intimidating.  We must remember that people have certain innate needs that they have come to church to satisfy . . . the need to belong, the need to love, the need to give.  Just by coming through the door, they may have already taken a huge leap of faith.  We must take them by the hand at that point and show them what we have to offer after that.

A while back, I was part of a small group of people in our church that liked to do service projects for the community.  We worked at all sorts of things.  We washed playground equipment for a local homeless shelter.  We threw back-to-school parties for homeless children.  We took meals to people on the streets and just handed them out and talked with those that we encountered.  Those were the highlights.  But then I encountered another minister, and friend, in our church whose words challenged me greatly.  He said that most middle class churches weren’t interested in real poverty—that they would back off the issue before getting to close to it.  And my friend had some real weight when he spoke of such issues.  He had started a ministry in a transitional housing unit for prostitutes looking for a way out of their lifestyle.  He knew what he was talking about.

My friend and colleague’s words challenged me because I was afraid that he might be right.  We were a splinter-group of the Community of Christ that, perhaps, liked to think that we were radical enough to actually work with the poor.  But what changes were actually occurring in our community because of our involvement?  None.  Absolutely none.  The only change that I was encountering was a change in me.

Partially because I really wanted to work to end poverty and partially because I simply wanted my friend to be proven wrong, I began to search for ways that we could really make a change to the grip that poverty has on so many people.  That was when I found my way to Open Table.  It’s an organization in Arizona that partner’s with churches and matches homeless individuals with church small groups.  The small group’s job is to serve the brother or sister by being a decision-making body and cheerleading group.  Their motto is “changing lives . . . one person at a time.”

To make a long story short, I managed to scrape together a table and we began supporting a family.  The story is not yet complete, and I wouldn’t dare finish the story from the perspective of the friends that we began supporting.  But I can say from my own experience it was a life-changing experience.  I have come to know that poverty is a relational issue.  If people in poverty had had a role model present when they were young . . . or who wasn’t beating on them . . . or who wasn’t drunk all of the time, then poverty would in all likelihood not exist.

Hypothetical:  you have lost your job.  What do you do?  Do you immediately go to the street with a blanket and a sign that says, “Will work for food?”  No of course you don’t.  You immediately start to talk to those that you know and network so that you can find another job.  Well those in poverty don’t have a network . . . or a family . . . or any real way to make quality decisions even if they did.

Those in poverty first need relationships.  Then they need physical support.  Is it yet time to consider how CBC can really impact poverty?

I don’t know why I wanted to tell this story other than the fact that it illustrates how I violated most of the guidelines that I’m about to outline regarding the purpose of worship.  I guess it goes to show that we all make mistakes at church . . . even those of us who really like church so much that we go on in life to practically live at church.

The following are a list of worship characteristics that I wish for you to think about.  Read them critically, and if you’d like to start up a conversation about what you read, you can email me at donwelch@cbcoc.net.  The following are not necessarily listed in order of importance.

1. Worship is community time.  As my mother informed me perfectly well by the tap on the back of my head, one must be aware of the fact that he or she is surrounded by others who are worshiping also.  This is important, especially in the Community of Christ, because we are a church that believes that serving God can best be done in community.  We can come to know God by ourselves, but the knowledge alone does one little good when it comes to building God’s kingdom.  The others that are with us, or who might join us for the first time are very important in worship. 
2. Worship is public relations.  How we worship and what we say during worship are a public expression of who we are and what we believe.  We want to express the best about ourselves but also confess our imperfections during a worship service.
3. Worship is education.  Our primary texts for worship are our three basic scriptures; though we may often incorporate others to support them.  Our members and friends must learn the stories of our scriptures and the stories of others’ lives if they are to deepen their walk along the path of the disciple.
4. Worship is renewal.  Sometimes you may be tired and need sleep.  If you sleep during worship, then you have received what it was intended for.  Sometimes you may need to laugh, and if you receive humor than you have received what worship was intended for.  Sometimes you may need catharsis or prayer or a good cry.  All of these things can be a valid connection with the Creator and all of them provide renewal.  Everybody needs something different; worship makes an attempt to meet those needs.

This above list is not to be considered exhaustive.  In fact, I wish you to know that some of the most worshipful moments of my life have been spontaneous events where the Spirit showed up and surprised me outside of Sunday morning.  However, despite the possible infinite possibilities for worship, I feel that I must list a couple of things that I find inappropriate in a worship setting.

1. Worship has no agenda.  Like love.  When one is expounding upon a scripture in a worship setting, it is generally not a good idea to put forth a political or personal agenda.  In fact, you will seldom hear me speak even of a vision for the congregation during a sermon or worship service.  That is what I feel is the purpose of a town hall meeting, business meeting, class, or even a blog.  Worship is not a good time to expose a congregation to ideas to which you would like them to consider marching.  It is instead a time to let the Holy Spirit give the marching orders.
2. Worship is not sacred.  Life is sacred.  Therefore, we should not fear when somebody wants to try a different worship style from time to time.  We carry with us a sacredness of creation wherever we go.  Therefore worship is no more or less sacred than anything else that we do or say during our day.  This is not to say that we should not have moments of highlighted sacrament during worship.  We absolutely should.  Those are moments that remind us of our deep need to connect with God.  However, we should be open to different interpretations of the divine.  Creation changes; therefore, worship should change from time to time as well.

If you’ve read this far, you’ve already read farther than I expected, and thank you for your attention!  I’m full of ideas, and I hope to put some out there in the near future that will push you, comfort you, and make you think.  And thank you for being part of CBC.  Our congregation needs people who are patient enough to read online this many words without losing interest.

Words cannot completely describe the feelings of exasperation, frustration, and exhaustion that have accompanied our move from Arizona. It has been—without a doubt—the longest move that I have ever made considering that Carrie and I left Arizona on December 10 and were not able to have an address that we called our own here in Council Bluffs until January 13. Nevertheless, we are now in a place that we can call home again; and it is starting to feel . . . wonderful.

And that wonderful feeling has come by-and-large from the membership of the Council Bluffs Central Community of Christ. Many members and friends have helped us over the past month in various ways from cleaning out pet filth to moving a piano, from bringing us food when we didn’t have a stove to letting us stay with them until we could move in, from calling us to check on our well-being to simply being patient with us because the move took so much longer than anticipated. Thank you.

When I spoke to the congregation at the beginning of the month about the power of a gift that is received at the right time I did not realize yet that I was receiving one of those gifts. You helped us greatly this past month.

In the future, this blog will be filled with theological ideas, challenging discourse, and visionary speculations. But for now, Carrie, Jayne, Samantha and I simply wish to say thank you for your hospitality. If each new visitor to the community received like we have received this month from the members of CBC, each new visitor would never wish to leave.