To Everything Turn, Turn, Turn

"By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For your were made from dust and to dust you will return." Genesis 3:19

God did not pull any punches with Adam and Eve after choosing to feel they knew more than God and it would be okay to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge. And thanks to what we call the "Fall" we have been repenting ever since. 

Wouldn't it be nice if it were all those two crazy kids' fault. But lets be honest, I know I need to repent of something DAILY! Based on our impulsive and logical thinking the average amount of a remotely conscious decisions an adult makes each day equals to about 35,000. I am sure I need to repent of at least a quarter of those decisions.

Repentance isn't saying, "I am sorry." Although I am certain God would appreciate a gracious, heartfelt apology occasionally, the word repent doesn't just mean that you feel bad for what you have done, or for that matter, have thought about doing. In scripture in both the original Greek and Hebrew the words used to describe repentance as a radical change away from a mind of sin.

This turning motion makes me think of the television shows where someone has a surprise awaiting them and they are turned away and then when the time has come to reveal the surprise they turn completely around. So as I picture myself turning away from something i also picture myself turning to something.

Can you turn from something without turning to something. Can you remove something, a habit, a choice, without replacing it with something new in its place? Will that space remain open without a placeholder?

Could that be the answer as to why humanity has failed at repentance for our entire existence? Could it be that when we recognize the need to turn away, a radical change from what we are doing to a something entirely new. Like the make over shows, we whirl around with a new look, everyone will be stopped, dead, in their tracks by who they see standing before them. What if the effects have dramatic impact that resonates throughout the world because that difference has divine DNA?

Genesis 2:7 "Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being."

That is what we have inside of us, Divine DNA, the actual Breathe of God. The world has sin within its brokenness. But us, we have God's divinity living inside of us and as we turn away from the world and turn towards God the world falls away and the reveal of us is surprising. We are no linger dust, we are life. We are breathe. 

The Lenten season is a time where we realize the mortality of our earthly life; From dust you came and dust you will return. But once the dust clears away we are a soul filled with the breath of God; a soul that will surprise the world with a new life, a new way of life, a new way.

"It Was A Cold and Dreary Day..."

It was cold, dreary, and rainy Sunday. With a heavy heart I left the warm safety of the parsonage to drive church for two services. My mind running wildly as I thought of how I would explain what happened at the Way Forward Conference of The United Methodist Church the previous week. I mostly wanted to address the one dimensional reporting of the secular news; we had turned our back on the LGBTQI Community. Some of the Sunday school classes would be perplexed, broken-hearted because that is not who we are. But I also know that the headlines in the papers had delighted some as well. Could I take their joy born in a lack of understanding of the process?

I wondered if today would be doable. I gave up on a "good" Sunday morning sometime Tuesday afternoon. On top of sharing this news, I had two services ahead of me, a dinner following church intended to be a fund raiser to pay off the parsonage note. And oh, did I mention is was cold, rainy, and dreary. 

But God loves to remind me He has me. 
Sunday schools seemed thankful knowing they are free to come and talk, vent or question judgement free. 
We had a record crowd despite the rain and cold.
Three sets of visitors cam to church that day, two committed to sticking around. 
An announcement of a new baby coming this Summer. 
The daily offering was nearly double the usual amount.
The men's luncheon to pay the last 7K of the 210K of the Parsonage took in 14K. 
And the food was crazy good.

Fine God. 
I get it. 
You are bigger than General Conference.
You are bigger than our messes we make.
You are bigger than my confusion and dread.
You WILL prevail despite our effort to block you.

God's hope, joy, and peace was in the raindrops that were falling and destroying my fear and dread.
So I will still labor with others to help unknot the tangled mess we made of the cord that binds us together.
I will look for the joy You give, Lord and lean on You for understanding.

And tomorrow we ...

Tomorrow is another Sunday but not like the other Sundays. 

Tomorrow I will preach and most of my congregation will be there. Those that are absent will have their reasons. 

Tomorrow my friend won’t be in her pulpit. She has left the church, turned in the credentials she worked so hard and paid so much for. She isn’t someone who identifies as LGBTQI or A. She is heterosexual but over 1/3 of her congregation is gay or has a gay child or parent or friend. She can’t face them. They are hurt because the denomination says their loved ones are not compatible with Christian teaching. She feels she failed them. Most of them won’t be there either. 

Tomorrow he will show up. He will wait to see who feels vindicated and who is devastated and wait to see who even knows or cares what happened. He will attempt to field questions, concerns and challenges from his congregation. He will try to survive the inquest. 

Tomorrow some will preach and some will not. Tomorrow some will cry and some will gloat. Tomorrow all will fall short of the glory of God. 

Lord in Your Mercy...