An Open Door...

Monday, September 12, 2011 - "After Thoughts & Other Thoughts" on Sunday, September 11, 2011: The Gospel – Romans 1:1 – 17

From the first century until now, the gospel is powerful. By belief in Jesus, we join with generations of his followers to believe not only in his saving grace but also in his power to transform and shape our lives as we follow him.

In the United Methodist Church, our mission is “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” Making disciples of Jesus is ambitious in itself. But to reach for the transformation of the world through those disciples is a monumental task. We are a bit bold and brassy to think we could accomplish disciple making for the transformation of the world!

Yet, the accomplishment of the church’s mission is not dependent upon us…thank God! The making of disciples for the transformation of the world is the work of Jesus in us. As we allow Jesus to shape us as his disciples, we are transformed. We, then, live and love differently. We begin to effect changes in the world around us through our relationships with others. With Jesus’ presence and strength in our lives, we find power beyond ourselves…the power of the gospel.

After Thoughts & Other Thoughts – Sunday, May 22, 2011: Rev. Dr. Younsook Kang “Courage to Lead” –Nehemiah 8:1 - 10

On Sunday, Youngsook mentioned the work of Ronald A. Heifetz and had wanted to share part of a video clip of his. The clip she wanted to use was eight minutes long which was too long for the message time. So she told us the story instead.

Ronald Heifetz is co-founder of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and is known worldwide for his seminal work on the practice and teaching of leadership. The excerpt Youngsook wanted to use is from an address given on Oct. 14, 2008, at the Convocation & Pastors School at Duke Divinity School. Here is the link to the video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSZId1VlYxc. If this link doesn’t work for you, go to YouTube.com and do a search for Ronald Heifetz. Several clips will come up. This clip is easy to find because it is over an hour long and is titled “Leadership, Adaptability and Thriving.” Enjoy!

After Thoughts and Other Thoughts –Sunday May 15, 2011: “When I Was Your Age” Mark 13:11; Acts 4:13 & I Timothy 4:11 – 14

On Sunday, while Shane sang and Kirby played his cello, Hanna’s choreography walked us through the lyrics of the Switchfoot song, Only Hope. I did not want to split our attention from the worship experience being created for us by putting the words of the song on the power point screen. So today, I give them to us. In these words, we are given the opportunity to join our hearts together to say that we too find our hope in Jesus and want to be his:

There's a song that's inside of my soul
It's the one that I've tried to write over and over again
I'm awake in the infinite cold
But You sing to me over and over again

So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands
And pray to be only Yours
I pray to be only Yours
I know now You're my only hope

Sing to me of the song of the stars
Of Your galaxy dancing and laughing and laughing again
When it feels like my dreams are so far
Sing to me of the plans that You have for me over again

And I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands
And pray to be only Yours
I pray to be only Yours
I know now You're my only hope

I give You my apathy
I'm giving You all of me
I want Your symphony
Singing in all that I am
At the top of my lungs I'm giving it back

And I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands
And pray to be only Yours
I pray to be only Yours
I pray to be only Yours
I know now You're my only hope

After Thoughts & Other Thoughts –Sunday, May 8, 2011: Tell Them – Deuteronomy 6:1 – 9

FYI—Below are the four scriptures that are put into the phylacteries we talked about on Sunday. Each passage speaks about putting the words on the doorposts, hands and foreheads as a sign to remember that the LORD's mighty hand had brought them out of Egypt:

Exodus 13: 1 – 10 (TNIV)

1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.” 3 Then Moses said to the people, “Commemoratethis day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the LORD brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast. 4 Today, in the month of Aviv, you are leaving. 5 When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites—the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you are to observe this ceremony in this month: 6 For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festival to the LORD. 7 Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders. 8 On that day tell your children, ‘I do this because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ 9 This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For the LORD brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand. 10 You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year.

Exodus 13:11 – 16 (TNIV)

11 “After the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he promised on oath to you and your ancestors, 12 you are to give over to the LORD the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the LORD. 13 Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons. 14 “In days to come, when your children ask you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to them, ‘With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. This is why I sacrifice to the LORD the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.’ 16 And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the LORD brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.”

Deuteronomy 6:4 – 9 (TNIV)

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.[a] 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 11:13 - 21

13 So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— 14 then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. 15 I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. 16 Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. 17 Then the LORD’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you. 18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

(Information found at http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=290&letter=P)

After Thoughts & Other Thoughts -- Sunday, May 1, 2011: Easter Emotions—Luke 24:1 – 12

Yesterday, we looked at the emotions surrounding the Easter accounts in the Gospel of Luke. There were some pretty strong ones flying around: grief/sadness, fright/terror, wondering/pondering the events, disbelief, doubt, amazement, AND joy…GREAT joy.

And yet a day out of the sermon, I'm thinking the emotion that is foundational to Easter is love.

When I say ‘love’, I mean ‘love’ as in God’s great love for us…I mean Jesus’ great love for us…AND I mean our love for Jesus. At 9:00 a.m. worship we sing:

“There is name I love to hear, I love to sing its worth;

it sounds like music in my ear, the sweetest name on earth…

It tells of one whose loving heart can feel my deepest woe;

who in each sorrow bears a part that none can bear below.

O how I love Jesus O how I love Jesus,

O how I love Jesus, because he first loved me!”

--Frederick Whitfield, 1855

At 11:00 a.m. worship, we sing these words from the pen of Tim Hughes:

“Wonderful, so wonderful Is Your unfailing love

Your cross has spoken mercy over me

No eye has seen, no ear has heard,

No heart could fully know

How glorious, how beautiful you are!

Beautiful One I love You

Beautiful One I adore

Beautiful One my soul must sing…”

May our love for Jesus continue to grow and deepen…

After Thoughts & Other Thoughts...Lord's Prayer...For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. AMEN.

    The Lord’s Prayer is found in two places in the New Testament: Matthew 6:9 – 13 and Luke11:2 – 4. Neither of these contain the final ‘doxology’ that we say in closing our praying of the Lord’s Prayer: for Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

 

   Scholars know that a Jewish prayer would not have closed with the phrases about temptation and being delivered from evil. “In Judaism prayers were often concluded with a ‘seal’, a sentence of praise freely formulated by the person who was praying.” (Niederwimmer, Didache, 136-138.) So, some type of ending would have been added when the prayer was prayed. By the middle to the end of the first century, the Didache, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, contained the following as an ending to the Lord’s Prayer as it was being taught to first century believers as they prepared for baptism and as part of the order for their services of worship: For power and glory are yours forever.

 

   Some of the phrases echo King David’s words of praise to the Lord as he gathered the materials for the building of the temple in the Old Testament. In Chronicles 29:11, we read, “Yours, Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom, you are exalted as head over all.”

 

    The doxology shows up in early manuscripts from the Byzantine textual tradition, It is not included in current translations of the New Testament, but may show up as a footnote to the text. The Protestant side of the church as well as the Eastern churches include the doxology in praying the Lord’s Prayer. However, the Catholic and some Lutheran churches do not include it in the Lord’s Prayer. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord's_Prayer#cite_note-20).

 

    Personally, I describe the doxology as ‘crescendo-ing’, cymbal roll that culminates in a crashing cymbal…Can you hear it? For Thine in the kingdom…and power…and the glory…forever…AMEN!

After Thoughts & Other Thoughts...Matthew 22:34 - 40..."The Will of God"...

Words from a song are running through my head. I can’t remember where or when I learned the song. I was in my teens or twenties. I sang it to affirm my commitment to going, doing, being whatever Jesus asked of me:

“Follow Jesus, I will follow Jesus, anywhere he leads me I will follow.

Follow Jesus, I will follow Jesus, anywhere he leads I’ll go.

Across the river, down through the valley, or if it be on the mountain top;

I’ll go Lord anywhere you lead me, take me here am I.”

     So tonight, instead of wondering what the will of God is and discussing it as we did in worship today, I’m thinking that if we focus on following Jesus, the will of God will be accomplished in our simply following Jesus and his teachings…what do you think?

After Thoughts & Other Thoughts...Matthew 6:5-13..."When You Pray"...

Since I was young, an image has been a part of my life in reference to prayer. A sideways view of two hands that have come together in prayer was a plaster casting my dad made from a mold. My mom would stain and varnish the plaster castings after dad had poured them. We would sell them at fairs and carnivals along with dad’s paintings.

 

The praying hands were from Albrecht Durer’s woodcut from the 1500’s. When I think of hands praying, this image from 500 years ago comes into my mind’s eye as a favorite. What's your favorite praying hands?

After Thoughts and Other Thoughts...Matthew 5:9..."Blessed are the Peacemakers"...

After looking at Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:38 & 39 about not resisting an evil person and turning the proverbial ‘other cheek’, words from a song barged into my mind. In the musical Wicked, there is a song called “No One Mourns the Wicked”. We hear these words:

‘No one mourns the wicked...

And goodness knows, the wicked’s lives are lonely.

Goodness knows the wicked die alone.

It just shows when you’re wicked, you’re left only on your own.’

--lyrics by Stephen Schwartz

Every time I hear the song and its words No one mourns the wicked I invariably think, “I do...I mourn.” And I do. I mourn for the life that wasn’t for those who hurt others and hurt themselves. I believe that we hold each other accountable and responsible for our choices and behaviors. I want dangerous, hurtful people to be behind bars where they can no longer inflict pain and ugliness on others. But, with the same breath, my heart mourns.

After Thoughts & Other Thoughts...Matthew 5:8..."Blessed are the pure in heart..."

“Finally, brothers and sisters,

whatever is true, whatever is noble,

whatever is right, whatever is pure,

whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable

—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—

think about such things.”

--Philippians 4:8

 

    This morning we talked about the ‘pure in heart’ involving the motives behind our actions AND involving our thoughts. This verse from the closing chapter of the book of Philippians lets us in on the secret of ‘cleaning up’ our thought-life. We choose what we think and what we ponder. If we occupy our thoughts with what is true…what is noble…what is right…what is pure…what is lovely…what is admirable…excellent…praiseworthy…WHEN will we have time for lesser thoughts?!!

    So, in the struggle to be pure in heart, think on these things. If we do, our days will be better spent and a joy to live!