Women in Art

My wife told me about this video the same day I saw a link to it on Marko's blog. Check it out.

Sunday, July 1

We will begin a study for the next two weeks on the sacraments. July 1 will be "Experiencing Communion" in which we will examine the Biblical roots of our modern day practice, and we will center the whole service around the experience of the eucharist. Scriptures will be Mark 14.22-25, Matthew 26.26-29, Luke 22.17-20, Acts 2.42, 46-47, and 1 Corinthians 10.15-17, and 11.17-26. Sacrament refers to a means of grace. Some denominations do not use the word, holding that grace is only bestowed by God, and there is nothing we can do to invoke it. Others want to be sure to communicate that both communion and baptism are purely symbolic acts with no inherent power or meaning in themselves. United Methodists believe that God does act in communion and in baptism. Grace is indeed imparted to those who participate in the sacraments. This is not magic. This is not human manipulation of the divine. This is God responding to his people when they honor God by observing the sacraments. You can read "This Holy Mystery" which is the result of a United Methodist study on communion, published in 2004. On July 8, we will consider "Remember Your Baptism". There is a United Methodist study on baptism also, "By Water and the Spirit".

Sunday June 24

This Sunday, we will again be considering the Lectionary Scriptures. The Gospel reading is Luke 8.26-39, which is the story of the demon-possessed man Jesus encounters in the land of the Gerasenes. This story is also told in Mark 5.1-20. This is a story of change, of radical life transformation. As we have said before, God is a God of change. This story describes the kind of change that can come into a life that encounters Jesus. The other Lectionary Scriptures for this Sunday are 1 Kings 19.1-15, Psalm 42, and Galatians 3.23-29.
The worship bulletin for June 24 is here.

Worship for June 17, Father's Day

Next Sunday we will consider two Scriptures: Romans 8.14-17, and Galatians 4.4-7. Both of these Scriptures talk about the Spirit moving us to cry out to God "Abba, Father!" "Abba" is an intimate term for father, like "Daddy". Wesley spoke much about conversion and assurance of faith by differentiating between the faith of a servant and the faith of a child. What does this mean? How does this work? Do YOU have the faith of a child of God? Read the Scriptures and think about them and let me know what you think. Leave a comment.

Worship for This Sunday, June 10

Our theme for Sunday is "Raising the Dead". This is based on the lectionary Scripture readings for this week. Read about the Revised Common Lectionary here. The Scriptures for this week are 1 Kings 17.8-24, Psalm 146, Galatians 1.11-24, and Luke 7.11-17. Click on each Scripture to read it. You can view this week's worship bulletin here. And further information on the "diamond prayer" is here. My point is this: "Raising the Dead" speaks of change--radical change from one state to another--and this is what God wants to do in us and in this world. How can we get involved?

Wildcat Softball National Champions!!

Wednesday night, the University of Arizona Wildcats defeated the University of Tennessee Lady Vols in the Women's College World Series to claim their 8th national softball title. It was a [sort of] bittersweet [sort of] victory for me since I am from Tennessee. But I am a Wildcat fan now. Period. It is interesting that Monica Abbott, Tennessee pitching ace, was named as the pitcher on the all-tournament team. I guess Taryne Mowatt (Arizona pitcher) will have to settle for being named Most Outstanding Player and winning a national championship.

Mister Rogers

I came across a link to this article today, and it is something you must read.
15 Reasons Why Mr. Rogers Was the Best Neighbor Ever
This article describes the real life Christianity that was the life of Fred Rogers.

The Desperation of God

This article by Sharon Hersh is a must-read. It sheds a lot of light on my views on the Trinity and the God that we worship.

Sunday June 3

This Sunday is Trinity Sunday in the liturgical calendar for the Christian church. As I considered the lectionary Scriptures for this week, what I think is an important insight came to me. Get a head start on worship by checking out the notes and looking up the Scriptures in the worship bulletin.
The critical question to think about is WHY. Why does God represent himself to as a Trinity?

I made it!

I am sitting in the business center of the Hilton in New York typing this. This is not cheap, so it will be short. It is weird being somewhere besides Catalina on Sunday morning. I'll take some photos and post more later. Mindy is rehearsing this AM and I think we are going to Central Park and a couple of museums this afternoon.

Heading to the Big Apple

Saturday, I am traveling to NYC with my wife Mindy. We were able to get tickets for David Letterman on Monday night, so that will be awesome. Mindy is part of the Sanctuary Choir from Catalina UMC, and they are performing at Carnegie Hall. So we will be traveling with a group that I am not in charge of, for a change. I wonder if it will be easier traveling with a bunch of adults rather than the youth I normally accompany? My guess is that it will be more of a headache traveling with the adults.

Sunday May 13

This Sunday is Mother's Day. We will honor and celebrate our mothers in worship. For some, this is a bittersweet time. I know it is for me. My mother died a few years ago. I wish I could talk to her again. There is a liturgical piece in The Pattern of Our Days (from Iona, a monastic community in Ireland) that says it well:

"Underneath are the everlasting arms"--
loved words and loving--
reminds us of a God
who is always there,
like a mother with a young child,
knowing our needs,
catching us when we fall,
comforting, bearing, cradling, dancing, and caressing.

"Underneath are the everlasting arms"--
words of encouragement
in moments of desolation
and loneliness;
words passed down from mother to daughter,
not in cold print but warm with faith.

"Underneath are the everlasting arms"--
now you are dying--
is it hard to let go?
For so long you have been there
to catch, to carry, and to care
Listen, love, I want you to know
that I can cope:
first your faith nurtured me,
and your strength,
but now I have found my own.
Let go.
Into God's hands I commend your spirit;
Underneath are the everlasting arms.

Momma, into God's hands I commend your spirit. Underneath are the everlasting arms. Amen.

Our study for this Sunday is Moving Forward in Sanctification. The subject of sanctification is important to us Methodists. Well, it was important to Wesley, and it should be important to us today, but it often is not. It might be good to read the background material and the Scriptures ahead of time. The worship bulletin is here.

May the life of God be in you today and may the peace of God be with you today. Amen.

Good CD

I am currently listening to this CD: Top 25 Vineyard UK Praise and Worship Songs. It has a great variety of music and I have always liked Vineyard music and it's live worship feel. I saw it at Gospel Supplies where I was able to listen to some samples, but I bought it used on Amazon.com for a MUCH lower price.
I have been burned so many times by CD reviews that I always listen to samples first. You can usually listen on Amazon. I credit Rob Resetar with this idea.

Senior Night

Every year we have a big celebration in the Catalina youth group for our seniors. Last night may have been the best ever. To see the video about the seniors, go here.

Another Piece of Theology: Universal Core of the Gospel

I read this post on the Emergent Village blog. It raises questions, rather than giving answers. Read it and think about it.

"Pale Blue Dot" is a video made by David Fu of a reading by Carl Sagan. It is about the place of our earth in the universe, and how we should live. I didn't agree with all of it, but it is extremely thought-provoking, sometimes beautiful, and supremely artistic. As an aside, how many of the films featured in the video can you name?

Atonement

I read an interesting article online today. It is a pretty heavy theological piece, but I found it remarkably readable. It is by NT Wright, and this article makes me want to read more by Wright. The article is actually a response to a radio address and a book, both of which Wright disagreed with and both of which concerned Christ's atonement for human sin. Check out the article here, and a response by the book's authors here.

This Sunday

I guess I've been slowing down lately here on the blog. I really enjoy it, but I've been pretty busy lately. This study for this Sunday in the Refuge is Moving Forward with Each Other. We will look at a lot of Scriptures. The best way to get a preview of Sunday's service is to look at the worship bulletin. You could even get a head start on the Bible study.

ArkAlmighty

There is a sequel of sorts to Bruce Almighty called Evan Almighty, which comes out this June. In this movie, the newscaster who beat out Bruce for the anchor job (Evan, played by Steve Carrell) has the encounter with God. Now, here is the interesting part. The movie has spun off a website and movement that encourages churches to do good. The concept is called ArkAlmighty, and works like a version of Craig's List for your church. People enter on a personalized (for your church) website their needs. People can scan these and choose one to meet. A person can also list gifts, abilities, skills, etc. that they can share, and people in need can check this list. if you go to the ArkAlmighty website, you can be introduced to the concept by John Goodman. Is this something we would like to do here at Catalina? I registered Catalina just to get further information; there is nothing entered on the site yet. Of course, one drawback to this approach is that some people with needs may not have access to a computer or the internet. As a solution to this, we could have a table set up on Sunday mornings where people could get the info entered for them, or even a kiosk with an internet-connected computer that people could use as a self-serve access to ArkAlmighty. You could also have people complete a brief survey and then input the results to the website. When we are serving at Casa Maria, or if we are planning a work trip to Agua Prieta, we could list the number of volunteers needed, and people could sign up online. Of course there are art pieces and links we can put on our church website. Lots of possibilities. What do you think?

Thanks, Sarai

Yesterday was Sarai Case's last Sunday on our church staff. She preached in both of our Refuge services and did a great job. The thought that stuck with me was about the miracles she referred to. The healing of the leper (Mark 1.40-42), the story of the hemorraging woman (Matthew 9.18-22), and the story of the blind men (Matthew 9.27-30); all have at least one common characteristic: the people sought healing from Jesus. Jesus was not seeking them to heal them, they came to Jesus and the healing they needed was available, and Jesus was willing. In the case of the hemorraging woman, all she did was touch his cloak. It seems that the faith needed to approach Jesus and ask was all the faith that was necessary. This brings up the question that Sarai asked: What if the healing is already there? What if it has already been allocated by God, and all we have to do is take it? I'm not putting this as well as she did, but we must ask ourselves, what does God have for us that we are not taking? What healing does Jesus have for us that we are not seeking?

Columbine/Virginia Tech

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the Columbine school shootings, and this comes just a few days after the tragic Virginia Tech shootings. I understand that the VT shooter was influenced by the Columbine shooters. What do we do? What kind of a world do we live in? How do all these things make you feel?
Here are some prayers/readings dealing with tragic events. Take time tomorrow to pray one or two in honor of those who lost their lives at Columbine and Virginia Tech, and to soothe your own soul as you try to figure things out. (You can always leave a comment here, call me 403-2403, or email me richard@catumc.org.) [Prayers and readings from The Book of Uncommon Prayer by Steve Case]

God, we've read the newspapers
We've seen the video on the news
We talk about faith
Our brains demand evidence
Our hearts long to believe
Forgive us our doubts, God
The world is a cruel place
The hungry and hurting reach out
The questions and doubts rise up like a raging river
We could drown in our own ignorance
Come into this place
We will open our hearts
We will open our minds and souls
Show us
Enlighten us
God, we need to know you are here. Amen.

***
Give us faith to stay on the path
Give us the courage to face the coming days
Give us the strength to pray in the face of things we don't understand
Give us the strength to believe in the mercy and grace you've promised us all
Give us the grace to entrust to you those we lost
Invite them to your table
Serve them their favorite foods
Give them eyes to see how much we miss them
Give us the eyes to see their smiles in the sunrise
Give us the ears to hear their voices in the rain
Give peace to their families and friends, and to the world. Amen.

Psalm 23
Matthew 5.1-12

Sarai Preaching Sunday

This Sunday, April 22, is Sarai Case's last Sunday with us at Catalina before she moves to Chicago to go to seminary. She is preaching in both services of The Refuge. Her Scriptures are below.
Jeremiah 5.1
Luke 10.38-42
2 Timothy 3.1-9, 10-14
Acts 9.1-19

Ignored Beauty

What would happen if a world-renowned violin virtuoso played a $3.5 million Stradivarius in a subway station? Would anyone notice? Check out the video. Look for the post "Ignored Beauty".

Virginia Tech

I may say more about this later, but for right now, I will mention that Lilly Lewin has posted some awesome prayer ideas in response to the shootings on her blog.

Do we worship the God of the past?

I cited Mike DeVries in an earlier post, and he has put another insightful article on his blog. Read it here.

Noticing our presuppositions

A few months ago, Bart Campolo (son of Tony Campolo) wrote an article called The Limits of God's Grace. It was published in The Journal for Student Ministries, and was quite controversial. It was controversial for a couple of reasons. One reason was that Campolo stated that he didn't believe that a loving God would assign anyone to the torment of hell. Secondly, it was controversial because of the reasoning that Campolo used to come to his conclusion. He stated (to simplify) that the kind of God he believed in would not send a deeply loved creation to hell. Campolo has a follow up to his article. This article is well worth reading. It argues that everyone of us comes to the Bible and all theological thought with our own presuppositions that color how we interpret the Scriptures. Very thought-provoking.

Is God Real?

This is the title of an interview/article in Newsweek's April 9, 2007 edition. Jon Meacham interviewed Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Community Church and author of the best-selling The Purpose Driven Life, and Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation. The discussion was pretty good, and I would recommend reading the article. I'm not sure if Warren was the best choice for this interview. I would have preferred Jim Wallis or Bono. I dont' think Warren could leave his fundamentalist-evangelical viewpoint long enough to give broad answers. He is a person who lives out his faith and puts his money where is mouth is. I think he could have emphasized Christian experience a little more.

Who is God and what is God like?

This was sort of the theme for our study Sunday morning in The Refuge. It was the first in our series "Moving Forward", and my thesis was that we cannot move forward in our faith with incorrect or unworthy concepts of God; and that the questions that nag us and doubts that haunt us will hold us back. So, we said 5 things that go with the Scriptures listed in the Thursday post.
1-I can move forward when I realize God is a mystery Isaiah 55.8-9 Read this post by Mike DeVries.
2-I can move forward when I realize my faith is not a superstition. Acts 17.24-27
3-I can move forward when I take risks. Genesis 32.24-32, Matthew 14.24-33
4-I can move forward when I look for God in the everyday. Exodus 3.1-5 Moses was just going to work when he encountered God in the burning bush.
5-I can move forward when I understand the goodness of God. Matthew 7.9-11

SUNDAY Sunday Sunday

We started out at 7am at Reid Park with the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Mindy, Bethany, and I did the 5k non-competitive race (walk in our case) and Tyler and Jeremiah did the 5k competitive. Tyler's time was pretty good (24:42/159th overall) since he is not a competitive runner. I was really blown away by all the Catalina people who were part of Race for the Cure this year! Of course, Friday night the arthritis in my left knee started to bother me. But I made it through! The photo is Mindy and three of the Melchers at the Race. We recognized RACE participants in the Refuge worship at 11, and they were an enthusiastic bunch! In fact, I would say the atmosphere in the hall Sunday morning was as good as I've ever known it to be.

Then during worship at 11am, we baptized and confirmed Chloe Kolaz. This was a special honor for me. Chloe is an awesome member of our youth group. I know this may sound self-serving, but I think it was the best confirmation service I have ever seen.

Eventful Saturday

Saturday Mindy and I chaperoned the Sahuaro Drumline on their trip to the State Drumline competition in Phoenix. We had a pretty good time. Sahuaro won fifth in the state. Not bad. The return trip was exciting: the Sabino bus broke down and we picked them up on the interstate (Sabino and Sahuaro are arch-rivals), and a boy threw up on the back of the bus. Sounds like fun, huh? This is Tyler in his drumline costume.

Sunday Bulletin

The bulletin for Sunday, April 15, can be found here.

The Refuge April 15

April 15 will be a unique Sunday. We will only have an 11am service, since many of us are participating in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. At the 11am service, we will confirm (and I think baptize) Chloe Kolaz. Chloe is an outstanding member of our youth group and is a fine young lady. It is my honor to be part of this special time in her life.
We will also begin our new study, Moving Forward. We will examine specific steps you and I can take to move forward in our faith. Since the season of Easter (beginning Easter Sunday and lasting until Pentecost) is one that emphasizes new life and growth, we will move forward in our faith. The first segment is "Moving Forward with God". These are the Scriptures we are considering:
Isaiah 55.8-9
Acts 17.24-27
Genesis 32.24-32
Matthew 14.24-33
Exodus 3.1-5
Matthew 7.9-11

Easter Relief

It might seem strange to some of you, but it is (at least for me) usually a relief once Easter is over. It is an occupational hazard of being in church work. It's almost the same for Christmas. I am so busy with Christmas Eve services and seasonal youth activities that it can be overwhelming. I must say that this Easter I was really looking forward to the services, even though it was a very busy season!
I was looking forward to the Sunrise Service (is that a paradox?) because Sarai was taking care of it and it seemed to be under control. I was looking forward to The Refuge services because I was prepared, and the services were simple in nature, and I had a message I was excited about preaching!
The message was that we can be FREE because of the resurrection of Jesus! The lectionary texts for Easter (listed and linked in the last post) said to me that:
Psalm 118 I can be free from fear of rejection by God.
1 Corinthians 15 I can be free from the fear of death.
Acts 10 I can be free from my sins and judgment.
Lukek 24 I am free to take a leap of faith.
We ended the service with communion to the very upbeat "I Am Free" by the Newsboys.
The Sunrise Service included the falling stone. Instead of just being rolled away from the tomb, the stone fell over into the tomb (on to the altar) first. This was pretty exciting since it knocked the communion cup (and juice) off the altar and there was a lit candle on the altar. But all turned out OK. Here is a photo of this year's Easter banner before its launch. That is always a source of excitement: will the banner fly and HOW FAR will it fly?

Easter Sunday!

Tomorrow ends our Lent series "Starting Over"; and our theme tomorrow is "Being Free".
Our Scriptures are the Revised Common Lectionary Scriptures for Easter which are:
Luke 24.1-12
1 Corinthians 15.19-26
Acts 10.34-43
Psalm 118.1-2, 14-24

This is part of our group from the Good Friday Hike yesterday. Apparently the GFH is a Catalina youth tradition that dates back at least to the early 80's. We hiked the trail to the Sabino Canyon Creek and Dam.

Newsboys Lose Phil Joel

Today I was visiting the Newsboys website because I am using one of their songs in the Easter service. I noticed something strange. All of the photos of the band had an empty spot where Phil Joel used to be. I tracked down the story and it seems that Dec. 31 was Phil's last day as a Newsboy. There are no plans right now to recruit a new bass player.

What if Jesus had a talk show?

This article is also from Mike DeVries' blog. It's about a guy in LA who does a call-in talk show as Jesus.

TWO Palm Sunday Processions

Go here to read an excrept from a book by Marcus Borg and John Crossan. The excerpt is quoted on Mike DeVries' blog. It tells the story that, in fact, TWO processions entered Jerusalem on the day we refer to as Palm Sunday. Read about it. It is fascinating and thought-provoking.

Check out Zach Lind's blog

Jimmy Eat World drummer Zach Lind is a pretty interesting person. He is a serious believer and is also quite a thinker. Check his blog at http://www.findingrhythm.com/blog/
Jimmy Eat World is one of my favorite bands and after seeing them at KFMA Day a couple of years ago, I must say they are one of the better LIVE performers that I have seen. Presently I am listening to JEW's Bleed American CD. Good stuff. I'm eagerly awaiting the new recording.

Conversion in the Wesleyan Tradition

This is the book that I am currently reading. It is a series of essays about conversion (duh). The sections are Historical Perspectives, Biblical Perspectives, and Theological Perspectives. I'm just two chapters into it right now, but it is interesting so far. I suspect that the authors are all from the conservative side of the United Methodist Church, but so far that's OK. The first chapter is a discussion of Wesley's Aldersgate experience. The first and second chapters discuss in detail the tension between gradual or incremental conversion and instantaneous conversion. Also, the discussion of Wesley's categories of faith of a servant vs faith of a son is interesting. Click on the photo to go to a link for the book.

Palm Sunday

This Sunday in the church year is actually called Palm/Passion Sunday in the Revised Common Lectionary. You can find readings for each Sunday here. The reason the Sunday before Easter was changed to Palm/Passion Sunday is that a lot of churches stopped doing a full-blown Good Friday service. So, you went straight from the Triumphal Entry (Palm Sunday) to the Resurrection (Easter) and the Cross event in between was ignored. To fix this, a liturgy for palms and a liturgy for the passion were both placed on the Sunday before Easter. Thus endeth the lesson.
You can check out our worship bulletin for Sunday, April 1 here. It doesn't have a lot (or actually any) sermon notes, but there is some interesting stuff if you want to get a sneak peek. Our emphasis in our "Starting Over" series this week is "Being Forgiven". I will look at both the palm and the passion narratives and ask the question: What happened to cause the crowd in Jerusalem to go from "Hosanna!" at the Triumphal Entry to "Crucify Him!" a couple of days later? Think about this and come to worship on Sunday. By the way, we assembled all of our "Refuge" signs and they should be in place Sunday!

I got cut...

Yep, I went under the knife at the dermatologist's office yesterday. I had some moles, etc. that didn't look right, so I went to the derm. He cut one off my arm and one off my shoulder. He also cut the wart off my eyelid. You were wondering about that weren't you? It didn't hurt much at all. The doc sent the stuff to the lab but he said he doubted there was anything wrong with any of it. Of course, he gave the lecture about staying out of the sun (this is Arizona and I am fair-skinned and have always been prone to sunburn) and he said something very profound: "Everyone's free to wear sunscreen." OK, he didn't really say that.

The other signs

These are other signs we will be using. The two beige signs will go up front on the stage (that's the plan right now). The white signs are two proofs of the same sign. I believe we are using the bottom one. This is the sign that will hang on the A Building (office building) facing First Street.

The Refuge at Catalina

As I said Sunday, I think our services are awesome! But we do suffer from a lack of identity and a lack of visibility. I have actually been working on (OK, thinking about) these issues for a long time. We batted around some name ideas at a brainstorming session a couple of years ago, but nothing ever came of it. Well, I finally got motivated and around the same time, came in contact with people who could help. Accent Banners and Signs made our pumpkin patch banner for us. They did a great job, had reasonable prices, and were very easy to work with (communicate via email, pick up and deliver, etc.). So, I took the opportunity to get things moving. Worship in the hall will now be…The Refuge. I add “at Catalina” on a lot of the signs because I want people to know that we are clearly a part of Catalina UMC, we are not a separate group renting space. The Refuge stuck out to me for two reasons. I think it says what we want to be: a safe place where people can feel at home and be themselves. I think it also expresses our theology. “God is our refuge and strength, a ever-present help in trouble” (Psalm 46.10). I say “alternative” worship instead of contemporary. I say this because we are an alternative to the traditional worship service, but also because we may use methods or practices that have their roots in the ancient church—hardly contemporary, but not the traditional worship either. Hence, alternative. We will have 3 sandwich board signs out around campus announcing that there is another worship service on campus. I think most of the time new folks coming to Catalina are only aware of the sanctuary services. Lets educate them! We will have a couple of large banners/signs up on the stage (“up front signs”) announcing who we are. And we will have a banner hanging on the front of the A Building (office building) that will announce to all the folks who drive down First Street, who play in Himmel Park, who jog around the park, and to all the day school parents, that there is a casual, come-as-you-are service on Sundays in the hall. For people who want to give church a try, we want them to know where we are. I will also put announcements in the religion section of the newspaper, and when the traditional service does their ad for the third Sunday music emphasis, I will occasionally add an announcement about us also.

We all probably have ideas about how we can “tweak” our worship to make it even better. Feel free to share those. Leave them as comments to this post.

You folks do so much to make our worship what it is. We want to share you and our message and our worship with everyone around.

Sunday March 25

The worship bulletin for this Sunday, March 25 is here. This is going to be a different week at worship. Our theme is repentance and rest. We will focus on examination, confession, receiving forgiveness, praying to God, praying for others, and communion. We will do this through music and media. The Scriptures that set the tone for our meditation are:
Psalm 50
Psalm 119.145-149
Mark 1.35-42

The music is from Moby's 18 (tracks 9, 15, 16) with one song from Hotel (track 14). You can listen to samples at the links.

From Jesus to Christ

This is an Easter article from March 20/28 2005 Newsweek. I personally think Meacham makes some good points and has a good grasp of many of the issues. Yes, if the body of Jesus could have been found, that WOULD have discredited Christianity. And believe it or not, there was more pressure to discredit Jesus in his day than there is today. So, James Cameron, if the remains of Jesus were available for finding, they would have been found. But they weren't. And Jesus was not discredited. And the claims of the disciples and Paul of resurrection appearances are valildated by the subsequent changes in behavior and life.
Some folks don't like the article. Here is one critique.

My WeeMee

This is my WeeMee I created at weeworld.com
Make one yourself. It's fun and...hey! You could make weemes of OTHER PEOPLE!! That opens up all kinds of possibilities, huh?

Cleaning Up

Those of you who have been in my office recently know it was a mess. Well, today I cleaned it! I started right after staff meeting (11am), and finished around 4:40pm. It was in many ways a reorganization and not just cleaning. It started with "zeroing out" my in basket and "zeroing out" my email (that's right, I have 0 email in my inbox). Then it went from there to getting my desk organized for productivity. That spread to the counters that were stacked, and the huge pile of files that needed to be filed (what else would you do with files?). Well, it's done. I do have some loose ends from the cleaning that I tossed in my in basket. I'm going to deal with those and go home. Oh no! I've still got to lead worship and lead youth group Sunday! You mean cleaning my office doesn't get me out of my regular work??

I couldn't talk about it until today...

The U of A Wildcats lost badly to Purdue in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday. The full story is here. It seemed to me that only reserves Jawann McClellan and Brett Brielmeyer played with any intensity at all. The game was so disheartening that I am tempted to stop being a fan. It's that bad. Well, it's only 8 months or so until the next season starts...

This is funny...

Did you see the skit from MadTV about the "iRack"? Whatever your politics, you must admit this is funny! I saw the video on Mark Oestricher's blog. Blame him.

OK Tell me about the band-aids

The clip art band-aids in the worship bulletin Sunday are places you can write the names of people you have hurt or offended in some way--people that you know things are not right between you and them. Yeah, I know the grammar of that last sentence is off the charts bad. So, print up the bulletin and spend some time in silence and solitude and list some names. This becomes a "reconciliation to-do list" for you.

Be reconciled to God. Be reconciled to each other. Amen.

Race Recycling

This is from an email I received from Tucson Clean and Beautiful:

It's that time of year again for the Susan G. Komen "Race for the Cure". If you are not planning to race -- come on out for a couple hours and be a volunteer to help this worthwhile effort.

Not only are there a lot of plastic water bottles used during the race that we do not want to go into the landfill, there is also a lot of orange and banana peels that will be collected and composted at the City's new composting facility. Last year the City was able to recover 56% which is great but why not 100%? With your help we can do it.

Please scroll down for more information and how you can become a volunteer.

We will do a training on Sat Mar 31 from 9 to 10 at Reid Park Ramada 18.

The Race is Sun 15 Apr from 6 AM to 10. Respondents can e-mail me at

wilson.hughes@tucsonaz.gov The link below is to the Race web site.

http://komensaz.org/race/2007/recycle.html

This is another way to be involved and make a difference!

Starting Over: Being Reconciled

This is the topic for worship, March 18. The bulletin with notes is here. There is explanation/info in the notes, so I won't repeat that here. The issue this week is being forgiven by those whom we have hurt, harmed, or offended. This is receiving forgiveness. Last week was about giving forgiveness.
Here are the Scriptures:
2 Corinthians 5.17-21
Colossians 1.15-22
Matthew 5.21-24

Reconciliation with each other is possible because of Christ's reconciling work.

Think about the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden. After their sin, they chose to hide from God, and then blame others and make excuses instead of seeking reconciliation. I think this was the biggest wrong. I'm sure it hurt the heart of God. Adam and Eve's behavior was motivated by fear and pride. When we blame or excuse or avoid people instead of making things right, that is also usually motivated by fear and pride. May God give us the grace to be reconciled with our brothers and sisters. More Sunday.

If you look at the bulletin, you might be curious about the band-aids. If you are in worship with us Sunday, you will find out what they are for. If not, my post-worship post on Monday will explain everything.

More on the 'Tomb'

I found an article in Time magazine also. It reinforces what Newsweek had to say.

What's a Christian to do?

A really good article in Newsweek talks about being Christian meaning "caring for others and making sacrifices to solve problems". It is about the Kennedys. Don't miss the last line. If the significance passes you by, let me know and I'll clue you in.

Each Day and Each Night

This is a prayer book that I use. You can look at it here. It has morning prayers and evening prayers for each day. There is also a lectionary with a psalm and a gospel reading for each day. It is simple, but meaningful.

Arizona Faces Purdue in NCAAs

You can read the story here and get the details. The game is Friday at 3:20 or so. I'll be watching. I cancelled an appointment my son Tyler had when I found out it conflicted with the game. More analysis of the game is here.

'Tomb' can't keep Christianity down

The alleged "discovery" (actually the artifact was found in the 80's--James Cameron just got interested recently) of the burial box of Jesus has caused a little stir. Did you notice how quickly the whole thing has subsided? Here is a link to an article in the LA Times about it that I thought was pretty good. It is written by Charlotte Allen, a contributor to beliefnet.com. The article in Newsweek on the subject is pretty good, too.

Race for the Cure

I personally know several women for have survived and are dealing with breast cancer: members of our church, moms in our youth group, friends. This disease must be fought. I think it is part of our imperative as the body of Christ on earth to do all we can to bring the kingdom of God to our world. Eradicating disease is part of that. We want to support God's work in our world. We want to support our friends and moms who have suffered. We want to stand with our brothers and sisters for a cure. Here is what I propose: as a church family, lets get involved with Race for the Cure on Sunday, April 15. We will enter a contemporary worship or general church team. We can enter a youth team and a young adult team. You guys can organize your own teams at school, work, or among friends or neighbors.
Go to the Race website for all the details. I will also have brochures next Sunday (March 18). If you can't be on a team, volunteer! Info for that is also at the website, or you can call 319-0155. We will have one service that day, 11am, after the Race activities are over and as a celebration of our efforts, and the hope that God can give this world!
The Race is April 15. If you would like to be part of helping coordinate Catalina's efforts, let me know! Just email me at richard@catumc.org or phone me 403-2403, or see me at church.

I don't want to talk about it...really.

I came home Thursday afternoon to work at the house and to watch the U of A first round game in the Pac-10 tournament. I shouldn't have bothered. They played terribly and lost by 19. You know, I can take them losing if I don't see it. Well, I saw it. And I may be scarred for life. Lets all hope that the NCAA tournament goes better.

This photo really says it all...

Me? Rich?

I was reading Luke 16.19-31 today, the story Jesus told of the rich man and Lazarus. Normally, I would indentify with Lazarus. I'm not rich, am I? I don't ignore the needs of people around me, do I? I am a needy person, aren't I? But today, I thought that maybe I am the rich man. I do have so much. I do need to be much more concerned about people in need around me. I need to be much more diligent about the use of my resources and much more aware of justice issues. The cost of being the indifferent rich man is high. Read the story.

Starting Over: Forgiving Others

This is our theme for this Sunday in our Lenten study "Starting Over". We must forgive other people to be free from our past and therefore able to start over. Below are our Scriptures for Sunday. Take a look at them and ask yourself, "What does this teach me about forgiveness?".
The worship bulletin for March 11 with notes is HERE.

Ephesians 4.32

Matthew 6.9-15

Matthew 18.21-35

Colossians 3.13

Luke 6.37

Luke 23.32-34

Wildcat Basketball!!

When I first moved here to Tucson, I didn't understand the fervor of the U of A fans, nor did I understand the great tradition in the Arizona basketball program. But for the last 4 years or so, I have followed the Wildcats religiously. I watch every game unless it is impossible. I know who the players are. I want them to win and I am upset when they lose. They are the ONLY team I care about in the NCAA tournament, and once they are out, I pretty much stop watching. I have no idea who won last year and I didn't watch the championship game.
After a really rocky patch this season, I am very happy that the Wildcats have won their last two games. I hope they can win at least one, and hopefully two, games in the Pac-10 tournament, so they will look strong going into NCAA tournament selection. I don't want them to have to play a top seed at the beginning of the tournament. The next game is Thursday at 12:20pm and I will be in front of my TV to watch it.
Check out Arizona Athletics. Ivan Radenovic's (see photo) 37 points against Stanford was phenomenal, especially his 11-11 free throw shooting which pretty much decided the game.

online prayer chapel

I like going to this online prayer chapel. You can click to add a candle and a prayer request. These requests are then read and prayed for all over the world. You might make it a practice to visit this site and just pray for other people. Since these are people you don't know, and you can in no way receive anything back, this would be a good way to do something really selfless.

Do you know what's on your ipod?

Today as I began my treadmill workout, I couldn't decide what to listen to, so I chose "shuffle songs". I didn't even know this was an option until a couple of months ago I had a conversation with Jim Caldwell. I mentioned that most of the stuff on my ipod I had never listened to. He replied that it was for that reason (having music you never listen to) that he put his ipod on random play. So, inspired this morning, or bored by my usual choices, I chose "shuffle songs". Here is what I heard:
The Voice of the Irish by Jeff Johnson
The Air that I Breathe by The Hollies
You Know How I Do by Taking Back Sunday
Winter Wonderland by Steve Taylor (a mariachi version--that's right)
Countin' on a Miracle by Bruce Springsteen
Hells Bells by AC/DC

I got drilled!

Last Thursday night as I flossed, something hard came out of my mouth. It was two small pieces of what looked to be tooth material. My dentist doesn't work on Friday, but I was in no pain, so that was OK. I went in this morning. My mind was reeling. What if I have to have a root canal and/or a crown? What would be the worst part: the fear? the cost? the pain? What if this is one of my two (I think) remaining wisdom teeth and the dentist recommends getting it pulled? That was fun last time. Or maybe it will be OK. Maybe it is a filling that came out. Maybe the dentist will just plug me up with a filling. You see, I am really afraid of the dentist. (For no good reason, actually.) What happened was that I had broken a tooth, but it could be fixed with a filling. But I had to get drilled. So there was novacaine, etc. I felt no pain at all in the chair, but after I got home, it started up. It has pretty much subsided now, but it was pretty bad there for an hour or two. You could make a horror movie out of stuff like this.
But I'll tell you one thing: there's nothing like a dentist appointment to make me pray. And pray hard, and fervently, and long! So maybe that was the good side of this.

Leaving Regrets Behind

Peter and Judas were both people who felt bitter regrets. Judas betrayed Christ to the authorities, and Peter denied that he even knew Jesus. The Scriptures tell us that both suffered bitter regrets from these actions (Matthew 26.69-27.5). But Peter and Judas had different responses. Judas was so overcome by his guilt and regret that he took his life. Peter stayed with the disciples and kept going. John 21 records the first one-on-one encounter between Jesus and Peter after his denial. The biggest thing that I notice is that Jesus did not berate Peter at all. Jesus didn't start with the "after all I've done for you..." speech. Jesus simply asked him "What's it going to be?". Are you going to follow me or not? Jesus had obviously let go of Peter's past and he invited Peter to do the same. And we know from history that Peter did.
Try this (we did this in worship Sunday): Get a piece of paper and a pen. Take time to think and pray and write down regrets you have--your "if onlys". If only I hadn't said... If only I had said... If only I had spent more time... If only I had made a different decision...
After you've got a list, give them to God. We brought them to a cross in an act of contrition in worship, but you can simply pray, "God, I give these regrets to you. I know you have let them go, help me to let them go." And then tear up your list.
Jesus was more interested in what Peter was going to do than in what he had done. Jesus had work for Peter. Jesus wants us to follow him also. Put down the past and focus on following.

Next Sunday March 4, 2007

We will continue our study "Starting Over" and we will discuss letting go of regrets and past mistakes. Our worship will include communion, a special media meditation, and an interactive worship/prayer experience. The worship bulletin is available on this page. The Scriptures for this Sunday are:
Philippians 3.7-14
Hebrews 12.1-3
Matthew 26.69-27.5
John 21.15-17
John 6.66-71

Healing Hurts

Last Sunday we began our study for Lent, Starting Over. The first installment discussed healing past hurts as a condition for starting over. We must be free of things from our past that hold us back if we are going to move forward. A process for dealing with past hurts and losses is detailed in the worship bulletin for February 25. It can be found from a link HERE. This process combines steps from Laurel Mellin and a couple I added. Here are some Scriptures that relate to each step.
Thinking Journal John 8.32
Feelings Letters Psalm 34.18
Essential Loss John 8.32
Earned Reward Romans 8.32
Letter to God Psalm 62.8
Letter from God Matthew 11.28-30

Feel free to leave comments or questions.

Rule of Life

We spent parts of January and February talking about developing a rule of life in worship. A rule of life is a framework, a list of guidelines for your spiritual life (and the rest of your life as well). A rule of life allows us to be INTENTIONAL about living out our faith. The worship bulletins with notes for the rule of life series is HERE. A possible discipline for Lent would be to spend time developing a rule of life.

Vacation Days

I took a couple of days of vacation last week. Monday was a holiday, then I took Tuesday and Thursday off, and worked Wednesday. Friday is my usual day off. Did I have a good vacation? I had a GREAT vacation!! What did I do? I got plenty of sleep. I played lots of x-box. And I did LOTS of work around my house--stuff that was on my to-do list for a long time. I really had quite a sense of accomplishment. As I was working, I was able to listen to several podcasts. My favorites are still the ones I listed on centering prayer and finding God in the other.

Finding God in the Other

This is the title of a sermon by a Eastern European secular muslem converted to Seventh Day Adventist pastor. (Now THAT'S a conversion!) This message is very stretching, and very thought provoking. You can listen at the website or download the podcast. It is about an hour long. My favorite quote is when he calls Christianity a "God-mangement system". I will listen to this again. And again. And I will visit his website. Listen and leave comments if you like.

Centering Prayer

Centering prayer is a form of contemplative prayer that I have found helpful, but also hard to understand. I found two interviews that were very informative and inspirational. The interviews are with Cynthia Bourgeault. They can be listened to from the website, downloaded to your computer, and imported as a podcast. Give them a listen and post comments if you like.

Videos from Sunday

I am putting two of the videos from Sunday online so you can view them. The two I am posting are the one by Henry Cloud about establishing and protecting a prayer time and the one that walks through how to have a contemplative prayer time step by step. It takes a lot of time and space to post videos, so I am only doing the two "how to" videos. Take a look at these if you need to refresh your memory and get started! The password to view the videos is catalina. You can see the Henry Cloud video HERE. You can see the Alone with the Lord video HERE.

How funny is the title of that LAST post?

"I'm back". And that post was dated May 2005. That's pretty close to two years ago. Well, I guess I'm back AGAIN. This time I hope to do more with this blog and to be more regular in posting. Here's my confession of the day: I received the book The Blogging Church yesterday and have already read quite a bit of it. So, I am inspired. Plus, right now at least, there is a lot to share. And a little bit down the road, I want to get some of YOU involved.
What else am I reading? I am reading Contemplative Prayer by Thomas Merton, A New Kind of Youth Ministry by Chris Folmsbee, and The Marching Season by Daniel Silva. Oh yeah, I'm also reading a self-help book called How to Finish What You Start Before You Start Something Else and This Includes Books. Just kidding about that last one.
One thing I want to do in this blog is to provide links to more info and to encourage further reflection around our Sunday topics. Also, I want to expose you to what is influencing me. What music I'm listening to, what videos I'm watching, what I'm thinking about. I want to get your reactions to some of this. And I want to keep you informed about what is going on in worship, in our church, in Christianity and to some extent in the world. I'll have to be selective.

I'm back

I believe that God is loving, forgiving, and merciful. I believe that God's thoughts toward humans in general and me in particular are positive and that God wants the best for me. I believe that God is loving and accepting of us just as we are. And I believe these qualities of God supercede all others. I think it is highly significant that God decided to describe his relationship with us as that of a loving parent. I want the best for my children. And not just the essentials. I want them to have things. I want them to be happy. I want them to have a good life. And I don't want it for me. It is for them. Sure, happy children make life easier on parents. Yes, it would reflect well on me if my children were successful. But that is so secondary it is not even in my mind. I love my kids deeply and want them to be safe, healthy, and happy.
And Jesus himself said of earthly parents, "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" So, I believe God is loving and positive and caring toward the human race and toward ME.
And I also believe that God wants a relationship with me. God is at nature a relational being. See the Trinity for that. I believe that God makes the first move in any relationship with humans and is always
seeking communion with me. I believe that God wants to be known and wants us to seek him. God desires our company.
I also believe that communion with God is a deep (maybe the deepest) human need. We all need to believe in and be connected with something or someone transcendent to our world. We need someone bigger than our existence to make sense of it. We need to believe that there is a unifying factor, an underlying intelligence somewhere in the universe. We need to believe that everything is not random and cold and impersonal and senseless. And beyond this psychological or sociological need for God, I believe we were created for communion with God and that there is an empty place in our soul that longs for God.
But precisely here is the problem. If God wants to know me and be known to me, and the deepest need of my soul is to know God, why is that relationship such a problem? Why don't I commune with God all day every day? Why don't I seek God? Why don't I hear God's voice? Why is it so easy to live as if God is fiction?
Of course there is an easy answer: we are sinners. Our sin nature that we inherited from Adam and Eve has blurred the connection between us and God. Our natural inclinations are now bent away from God. But the need for God is still there. And that makes the conflict internal. I am my own opponent. I am my own obstacle to God; to my greatest good. Well, then, I know all this, and I have access to the problem (since I am the problem); then why don't I just make myself do what's right? Because if I do and I experience joyful communion with God, won't that whet my appetite for more? Won't that develop in me a taste for communion with God and it will become easier and easier for me to find time and make a priority of seeking God in prayer, Bible study, and communion?
This is not my experience. It is my experience that communion with God is not magnetic. It is not cummulative. It is intermittent. It is hit and miss.
But how is it supposed to be? Is communion with God supposed to be like medicine; we don't like it, but we force ourselves to take it because it is good for us? Isn't communion with God supposed to be like a love relationship? We respond to God's love with our love and we are all warm and fuzzy? (Or at lest we have a sense of well-being.) Besides, if the God of the universe loves us and is on our side, what could possibly be a problem? (Didn't Paul say something like this?) Of course, this brings up a whole different problem: if a loving God rules the universe, why isn't the world a more benign place (if not an overtly good one)? But that is not the problem I am discussing.
What is the matter with me? Why do I have such a wondering heart where God, the great lover of my soul, is concerned? The problem is that it is my nature to avoid God, to resist God. How do I know that? Because it is what I do. And I would venture to guess it is what you do, too. It is usually my nature to do things that are bad for me. It is my nature to piddle around when I need to hurry. It is my nature to put too much food on my plate. It is my nature to say things that I later regret. It is my nature to make poor decisions.
A book of the Bible that sheds light on my inability to focus on God is the book of Hosea. [Check out the book of Hosea here: http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Hosea&vnum=yes&version=nrsvae] God told the prophet to marry a prostitute--someone who would be (and was) unfaithful to him. She was someone who would bear children he did not father. And all along Hosea was commanded to be faithful to her; to take her back every time she wandered away. I'm thankful for the book of Hosea, because that is me. I'm the unfaithful wife. I'm so thankful that God is the faithful lover, always willing to take me back. And Hosea does speak of a day when God will end Israel's unfaithfulness--when he will woo her with an irresistable and eternal love--and she will become faithful. So, I can look forward to a day in eternity when my wandering heart will find rest in God. Until that day I must discipline my soul to do what is best for me, remembering in my mind when I can't feel in my heart how good communion with God is.

Easter

Sunday was Easter, which is normally a really hectic day for those of us in church work. Not so much a day to celebrate, but one to endure. And I must admit that was my attitude this year. There must be a way to avoid this, but I confess that I haven't found it yet. Looking back now on Easter, I remember that Easter is the whole reason we meet as a church. The day of our worship was set by the resurrection. If Jesus had been raised on Tuesday, we would be going to church on Tuesday. That really wouldn't be that radical of a change, so don't panic. But think about that: Easter is why we exist. If there had been no resurrection, Jesus and his disciples would just be an obscure footnote in a dusty history text. Easter means hope. Easter means new life. Easter means that nothing--NOTHING--is more powerful than God's love for me. Easter also means rest. I can cut out my striving to be "good enough" or whatever to be accepted. Easter means that at the root of everything, it's going to turn out OK. I may not see how or when, but Easter tells me that the greatest overriding force in the universe is God's love and that it cannot be stopped. How does this work with all the suffering in the world? I don't know (I write this as we learned yesterday of ANOTHER devastating earthquake in the Pacific Rim). Maybe God's love is worked out in eternity. Maybe it triumphs eventually, or at the end of the age. Maybe God's love works as we work. I don't understand all that. But on Easter, a person who loved me enough to suffer for me demonstrated that he is still here to love me today, and forever. And for now, I can rest in that.

photo comments

I would like to get reactions to the photo I posted Tuesday: the Jesus of Nazareth arrest photo. What do you think about it? Let me know.

Think about...

http://benbell.typepad.com/ This is a link to an interesting site. Check out the art links on the left side (the Andy Gault stuff).

Read and reflect on this: (This was written by a youth worker in the UK, so some of the idiom may same a little strange to us US folks.)

Here I sit

My church floor made of grass

My cathedral dome the sky

My offering basket the council estates nearby.

I open my purse and bring out my heart

I have nothing else to give.

I feel your love in concrete high rise

Where chicken and chips is eucharist;

Your grace calls me to partake

As I see your pain in hungry eyes.

I feel so empty, robbed of power,

And then I think of you, helpless in your final hour,

And I know my church is where you live

Amongst the broken glass and brittle hearts.

You draw me out until I cannot help but love,

Against my will but merging now with yours,

And I realise that my need of you

Is all you need to work through me, your church.

This is what Holy Week is all about  

Here is the Jones family: Bethany, Richard, Mindy, and Tyler 

The Temptation of Christ

I was reading in Matthew 4 today. This is the chapter with the story of the Temptation of Jesus. Satan tempted Jesus in 3 ways. First, he tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread. Jesus was hungry. He had fasted for 40 days. Yet apparently his fast was not over, and the temptation was to put body ahead of spirit. Had Jesus felt his fast was over, it would have been A-OK to turn the stones into bread. But spirit takes priority over body. Don't rush to fulfill the needs of the body at the expense of your soul. Second, Satan took Jesus to the top of the tower of the Temple in Jerusalem and challenged him to jump off. God would intervene and save Jesus and then Jesus' identity as the Son of God would be cemented: to himself and to all in Jerusalem. The temptation here is about identity and how you find it. God had already spoken at Jesus' baptism: "This is my Son...". Do we identify with the self-giving love of God? Or are we in a desperate struggle to chisel out our identity for ourselves? Are we willing to lose ourselves in Jesus and his cause? The final temptation was to receive all the kingdoms of the world in exchange for worshipping Satan. Power always has a price. Remember that. Serve or be served? Which would you choose? Would you even consider that a choice? Jesus did. He chose to serve...to give his life as a ransom. What place do we choose? What place will our current path in life take us? Are we heading to a place of serving or to a place of power? Of these 3 temptations, which speaks most closely to your situation?

How powerful is perspective?

I had a thought yesterday. I can imagine the comments now. Yes, I'm sure I had more than one thought yesterday. Let me rephrase: Here is ONE of the thoughts I had yesterday. We all have problems we would like to deal with: lose weight, get out of debt, get weeds pulled, get the paper written, get assigned reading done, improve a relationship, etc. Would it make a difference if we phrased our problems as positive goals to achieve (work toward), instead of problems to be solved? For example, instead of 'lose weight', I could phrase this as 'eat right and be healthy'. Instead of 'pull weeds', I could strive to 'have a house with curb appeal'. Would this help? I think it would help only if I focused on what could be instead of what the problems are. When I look at my yard, do I think 'Look at all those weeds!' or do I think 'This place could (will) really look great!' Maybe this positive perspective might give me just the little boost of resolve I need to deal with some problem areas--I mean, achieve some positive goals--in my life. What are the problems that are nagging at you? How can you restate them as positive goals?

Valentine's Day

What does Valentine's Day mean to you? For some people, it is no big deal. They are not in a relationship, so they have no one to honor on this day (they may say they have no obligation for this day); but also no one is honoring them. For some people, it is a chore. You must do something "romantic" for Valentine's Day whether you want to or not. If you forget about it or blow it off as no big deal, you will be in the dog house. Then, there are the people who enjoy Valentine's Day. They may think a long time or spend a lot of money or work really hard to make the day special.
I guess at one time or another, I've been in all of the groups above. This year, I'm having a little fun with it. I am looking forward to it. What, exactly, I am doing for Valentine's Day is, of course, none of your business. Plus, I don't want to spoil any surprises.
Valentine's Day is about love. Love is one of the most basic human experiences and one of the most important human needs. Who do you love? Who ALL do you love? Do these people know it? How do you show your love? If everyone you loved were told by some cosmic cupid that you loved them, would they be surprised? SHOWING love is not just for Valentine's Day and it is not just for your sweetheart. In fact, love shown--demonstrated--is the only thing that makes this life worth living.

Fear

Last night at the Ash Wednesday service, I practiced the process for forming a breath prayer that Ron DelBene teaches and that I gave out in worship a few weeks ago. The center piece is imagining yourself in the presence of God--maybe in the form of Jesus--and God/Jesus asks you, "What do you want me to do for you?" What is your answer? What response comes leaping out of your soul? For me last night it was, "Banish my fear." To form a breath prayer, you couple the need (fear) and the verb (banish) with a name for God. For some reason, I chose Holy Father. So my breath prayer was fully formed and is: "Holy Father, banish my fear." I purposed to use this breath prayer throughout Lent, or until God released me from it. What do you fear? What is fear keeping you from?

Only Ashes

Well, I thought it was a long time between my last two entries, but it has been two weeks since my last post. I am attempting to post something every day during Lent, so this is day 1 of that effort.
A couple of days ago, I was reading and thinking about Matthew 2. This chapter contains the story of the wise men visiting Jesus. The text says that after the wise men went to see Herod to ask him if he knew where the king of the Jews was to be born, that Herod and ALL JERUSALEM with him were afraid. Afraid? Afraid of what? Why were the Jewish people afraid of the coming of the promised and allegedly longed for Messiah? Were they afraid because they had treated their faith as simply a collection of traditional tales and now were faced with these traditions exploding into reality? (And they would have to decide whether or not to believe them?) It is easy to give lip service to beliefs when you know they will not effect your daily life. Or were they afraid of change in the status quo? Even though the situation in Palestine at the time was much less than ideal (Israel was occupied by the Roman army and were not autonomous or free), maybe it was to be preferred over CHANGE. Change is always difficult. Many of us would choose dull routine over risky change every time.
Then the question comes to me, why am I afraid of encountering God? Why do I seemingly avoid God and time with God? Am I afraid of what I might find (or not find) in an encounter with God? Or am I just afraid of change? I crave change and yet avoid it at the same time.

It's been awhile...

I had severe email and internet trouble last week, AND an incredibly busy week, so I failed to make any entries. Sorry about that. Last Monday was MLK Day, which was a holiday at our church office. Of course that didn't mean anything to me, I was driving back from our annual snow trip, so I was working anyway. But holiday weeks/short weeks usually aren't that great for me anyway. I've got basically the same amount of work to do each week, and if it's a short week, I've still got to be ready for Sunday. I almost hate to see holidays coming, knowing that they usually just lead to more stress. You know, less time to get the same amount of work done. I saw a great quote today. In an interview in Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan was asked what would he like to be the last song he hears before he dies. He answered, "How about 'Rock of Ages'?" Pretty good, answer, Bob. This last Sunday I taught about listening prayer in contemporary worship. This is a hard practice to engage, even for someone who knows it is valuable and who teaches others about it (ME). I confess I do not listen as much as I would like and it is often in times of crisis, when I quiet myself and focus and listen as a last resort. God as a last resort...hmm...something's not right there. But anyway here is an article that speaks to God's quest to get our attention. I read it with benefit and I recommend it to you. http://www.youthspecialties.com/articles/topics/spirituality/attention.php This link is to the article "Attention, Please!" Connective Spirituality by Randy Kuss. Below are the first few lines to whet your appetite. And God said, "Attention, please! May I have your attention?" God, in Martha Whitmore Hickman's And God Created Squash: How the World Began, having created the most ambitious part of creation (that would be us), now asks a simple thing: "Attention, please! May I have your attention?" Why? Well, to point out a few things and to see if we have any questions. God particularly wants us to know this: "Remember I made you for company, for me and for each other. So we could love each other." And that's the core of Connective Spirituality.

It's been awhile...

I had severe email and internet trouble last week, AND an incredibly busy week, so I failed to make any entries. Sorry about that. Last Monday was MLK Day, which was a holiday at our church office. Of course that didn't mean anything to me, I was driving back from our annual snow trip, so I was working anyway. But holiday weeks/short weeks usually aren't that great for me anyway. I've got basically the same amount of work to do each week, and if it's a short week, I've still got to be ready for Sunday. I almost hate to see holidays coming, knowing that they usually just lead to more stress. You know, less time to get the same amount of work done. I saw a great quote today. In an interview in Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan was asked what would he like to be the last song he hears before he dies. He answered, "How about 'Rock of Ages'?" Pretty good, answer, Bob. This last Sunday I taught about listening prayer in contemporary worship. This is a hard practice to engage, even for someone who knows it is valuable and who teaches others about it (ME). I confess I do not listen as much as I would like and it is often in times of crisis, when I quiet myself and focus and listen as a last resort. God as a last resort...hmm...something's not right there. But anyway here is an article that speaks to God's quest to get our attention. I read it with benefit and I recommend it to you. http://www.youthspecialties.com/articles/topics/spirituality/attention.php This link is to the article "Attention, Please!" Connective Spirituality by Randy Kuss. Below are the first few lines to whet your appetite. And God said, "Attention, please! May I have your attention?" God, in Martha Whitmore Hickman's And God Created Squash: How the World Began, having created the most ambitious part of creation (that would be us), now asks a simple thing: "Attention, please! May I have your attention?" Why? Well, to point out a few things and to see if we have any questions. God particularly wants us to know this: "Remember I made you for company, for me and for each other. So we could love each other." And that's the core of Connective Spirituality.

It's been awhile...

I had severe email and internet trouble last week, AND an incredibly busy week, so I failed to make any entries. Sorry about that. Last Monday was MLK Day, which was a holiday at our church office. Of course that didn't mean anything to me, I was driving back from our annual snow trip, so I was working anyway. But holiday weeks/short weeks usually aren't that great for me anyway. I've got basically the same amount of work to do each week, and if it's a short week, I've still got to be ready for Sunday. I almost hate to see holidays coming, knowing that they usually just lead to more stress. You know, less time to get the same amount of work done.

I saw a great quote today. In an interview in Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan was asked what would he like to be the last song he hears before he dies. He answered, "How about 'Rock of Ages'?" Pretty good, answer, Bob.

This last Sunday I taught about listening prayer in contemporary worship. This is a hard practice to engage, even for someone who knows it is valuable and who teaches others about it (ME). I confess I do not listen as much as I would like and it is often in times of crisis, when I quiet myself and focus and listen as a last resort. God as a last resort...hmm...something's not right there. But anyway here is an article that speaks to God's quest to get our attention. I read it with benefit and I recommend it to you.
http://www.youthspecialties.com/articles/topics/spirituality/attention.php
This link is to the article "Attention, Please!" Connective Spirituality by Randy Kuss. Below are the first few lines to whet your appetite.

And God said, "Attention, please! May I have your attention?" God, in Martha Whitmore Hickman's And God Created Squash: How the World Began, having created the most ambitious part of creation (that would be us), now asks a simple thing: "Attention, please! May I have your attention?" Why? Well, to point out a few things and to see if we have any questions. God particularly wants us to know this: "Remember I made you for company, for me and for each other. So we could love each other." And that's the core of Connective Spirituality.

crossing guard

It is good to be back in Tucson after our ski trip! The trip went very well and there were no injuries. (That's always the first question.) This morning I was pulling into the parking lot at the Ott YMCA. There is a crosswalk right at the entrance, with a school crossing guard. As I approached the crosswalk, the crossing guard was letting a group of 4 or 5 kids cross the street. This crossing guard was having a great time! He was smiling and laughing and talking with the kids. Think for a minute about the positive effect this guy's cheerfulness and positive outlook could have on these kids. This is actually a pretty good ministry this guy has, isn't it? He gets to impact probably hundreds of our city's children and send them to school with a smile and a positive attitude and a kind word. These children have one more positive adult influence in their lives. What can YOU do to make the world a better place? What can YOU do to bring the kingdom of God to the corner of the world where you live? It can be something that SEEMS small and simple, but it can have tremendous impact. Lets all try to find a good work to do or a person to encourage TODAY.