The Tree(house) of Life

Last night shortly after falling asleep my son sent the following text:

I was shocked and did as he said. I went to Facebook. There were videos and articles all over the social media platform. By morning it had reached state and national news. The even was described as “the fire heard round the world.”

All day my mind was flooded with memories of our trips to the treehouse. The first time being shortly after Horace began building it. It was barely a forth of the final size. Even then it was an amazing site to behold. The mash up of lumber and trees was nothing like any treehouse I had ever seen, in fact it was larger than my home. 

Over the years, the tree house was where we went for a fun day, to take out of town and even out of country family. No matter people had come from or what sights they had seen, everyone was always in awe. We were always in awe because each trip showed us a new feature, addition or an intricacy we had missed on previous visits. 

The treehouse was where I went to hear God’s voice as I discerned my call to ministry. And I later was blessed to preach at the handmade pulpit and take a church youth group there as the pastor. 

Years later I was blessed to gain special permission to “borrow” the pond next to the treehouse to baptize some great people and one special baptism I will never forget. 

I am sad the treehouse is gone. I have heard from many who are equally sad. I am sure there will be an investigation and maybe even an arrest. There will be clean up to do from the debris and currently there is a burned out hole where once stood a managary of constructed majesty. In my faith tradition, the remnants of the sacrament of holy communion is returned to the earth from where it came. It seems only appropriate that the remnants of the sacrament of baptism, in the pond, in the treehouse sanctuary, in the hearts of those that encountered Our Great Creator are also returned to the earth in ash. 

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...

The Great Divorce

"There have been men before...who got so interested in proving the existence of God that they came to care nothing for God himself...as if the good Lord has nothing to do but to exist. There have been some who were so occupied with spreading Christianity that they never gave a thought to Christ." C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

Life group question of the day, "What is the condition of your heart?" My heart? My heart is broken. Broken, for friends who walked away from The General Conference of the United Methodist church feeling unwanted, unloved and defeated. But my true heartbreak comes from the place inside me that is still a little girl; a little girl that just watched her parents' disagreement turn into a full blown argument. I watched, broken as my parents disagreement turned ugly and eventually resulted into what appears to be a divorce, or at least a separation. 

The church is my extended family. Spiritually I was born into the UMC following a lifetime of wandering lost. With the absence of stable, extended family, as an adult, the church became for me the people that supported me, raised me and now I am a leader in the church. Like a child I look up to my family. But today my family is broken and hurting and I am certain we grieved God in the process.

I also feel that in right-fighting, we eclipsed the Word of God for ourselves, for others, and ended up doing exactly what we as people called Methodist are to not do - we are to first Do no harm. But harm was done. Harm was done to some of our own family and to our witness to the world.

"No natural feelings are high or low, holy or unholy, in themselves. They are all holy when God's hand is on the rein. They all go bad when they set up on their own and make themselves into false gods." C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

As a pastor I come across so many people that have been hurt by their church but I help them find that love can be found in a church family right where they are. In Googling this morning the national headlines cry out about our dysfunction, our fight, the possible impending divorce and the place that has been and is calling to those feeling unloved by their own churches has placed itself in the position of not being that place any longer. Not as much by our decisions but how our decision making played out in the media. I truly thought my family was better than that.

What can we do now? We can turn to God and and let God be God. Derive our power from the Spirit of God, and begin to pick up the pieces of our hearts and begin to heal. We can wrap our arms around those who have been hurt and finding our won healing in being a comfort to others. 

"There is but one good; this is God. Everything else is good when it looks to Him and bad when it turns from Him." C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

Be sure to know, God doesn't need an interpreter. God doesn't need a defender. What God needs is people who show the nature of God to others in the world. God is love. Showing god's nature means to show love; love that is not drowned out by the sound of the clanging cymbal of self-righteousness. 

I am no longer my own, but thine.

Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me employed for thee or laid aside for thee.

Let me be full, let me empty.

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father Son and Holy Spirit,

thou art mine, and I am thine

So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth,

let it be ratified in Heaven.

Amen

Photos from UMC.org

Why being present matters...

“When Jesus looked out and saw that a large crowd had arrived, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread to feed these people?” He said this to stretch Philip’s faith. He already knew what he was going to do. One of the disciples—it was Andrew, brother to Simon Peter—said, “There’s a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But that’s a drop in the bucket for a crowd like this.” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” There was a nice carpet of green grass in this place. They sat down, about five thousand of them. Then Jesus took the bread and, having given thanks, gave it to those who were seated. He did the same with the fish. All ate as much as they wanted.” ‭‭John‬ ‭6:5-6, 8-11‬ ‭MSG‬‬

As a child I remember my Grandma describing a church family by saying, “They are there every time the doors are open.” She meant it as a compliment, implying that attending made them good people, maybe better than those who did not. 

The same statement was made by one of my children’s friends, We are there every time the doors are open,” but this time it was a complaint. 

Does church attendance, particularly the social, missionaries, outreach events make us better people? Woody Allen is quoted as saying “Seventy percent of life is about showing up.”  What happens when we show up?

1. When we show up we show up we learn something. A former secretary once told me as I left for yet another business training, “You will learn something, even if all you learn is how to sit still and behave graciously while bored.” Sarcasm aside, there is something to be said about not always being happy and entertained where you are. It is a growing edge for all of us. How many times have you gone somewhere and realized after the time had passed you were better for being there. What a nice surprise when it was somewhere you didn’t want to go. 

2. People’s lives are enhanced by your presence. Even when you don’t need people, people need you. In the history of the American church, people knew where to go when they were lonely, hungry, broken. The church was the proverbial lighthouse for those struggling in deep water. If we aren’t there to shine the light, help bring them to shore and care for them, as they gain their land legs, the lighthouse is of no value. Once when beginning a new church service in a new format, many at the church became concerned that they would “lose” people from the current service. “Can’t we just have a service for ‘those’ people without losing ‘our’ people?” One young man said this, “If no one is there to greet them when ‘those’ people come, how will ‘those’ people ever become ‘our ‘people?”

3. We are a body. Ultimate fitness requires that a body has all (or most) of its parts working. Recently, I began regularly attending exercise class. I am discovering body parts that have been allowed to go dormant. Activating those parts, while uncomfortable in the process, has made me stronger and more able and effective. The same idea works for the church. Even if we feel like what we do, what we can offer, doesn’t matter, it does. Your mere presence is often what is needed to complete the working body. 

Yes, a vital church has many, many, many offerings for fellowship, reaching beyond the walls to others and serving others. Sometimes it seems like there is so much to attend. Please don’t plan to attend. Plan to be present. Be available to others. Don’t go with the agenda to be fed. Go fully prepared to show up and share. Like the little boy, offer what you have. God will take the few fish and meager loaves we offer and spiritually feed how ever many take the time to sit down. It is in that action of the Divine that all that are preasent are fed; even you. 

Take time to look at your church newsletter and calendar to see where and when you can be present. 

National Walk Out or Up Day

"WALK WALK We like to walk. 

WALK TALK We like to talk."

Hop On Pop by Dr. Suess

We like to walk...we like to talk.  My social media news feed is overcome with hashtags with what seem to be similar; #walkout and #walkupnotout very similar yet very, very different. The hashtags are in reference to the movement by highschool students across America following the school shooting in Florida to emphasize the need for gun control, particularly in reference to the ease in which guns are obtained by those that lack the mental stability to be a gun owner. #walkout

#walkupnotout is a viral movement. The movement appears to be inspired in part by a Facebook post, mid February, in Texas. The movement encourages students to "put down their stupid phones" and walk up to lonely students and make friends, a great idea. We all need to check out less and reach out more. 

Both hashtags involve movement, walking. Here is the biggest difference, however. In walking out, the students are making a statement, saying they are tired of watching their friends die right before their eyes. Or in the case of the students that have yet to be involved in a shooting, are saying they are tired of worrying about when someone will come in and kill their friends right before their eyes, or worse yet, kill them. They are tired of being sitting ducks waiting for "the adults" to legislate their way in to safety. They are tired of waiting on us. They don't want to sit - so they are walking.

The principal that began the walk up, not walk out movement is looking at the shooter. Like many of us he is probably wondering how did we get here. What makes someone so angry they need to kill to feel release. Like so many school personnel he sees a glimmer of hope that the students could be more kind, more friendly, leaving no one out and that child will not grow up into a rage filed killing machine. 

The danger of hashtags is that they take a larger conversation and reduce it down to two to 4 words, stripping it important considerations.

Considerations like:

• Many students will walk out without actually knowing the full "why."
• Walk outs feel good. They give the walker a power when they feel powerless. 
• Walk outs give a voice to the voiceless.
• Walk outs rarely make change because they are not taken seriously by the change makers.
• Walking up to students places the responsibility for change on the the victims (or potential victims.)
• The walk up movement is akin to saying, "You are being shot because you have been mean to people. If you had been nice they wouldn't have shot people."
• It victim shames.
• We are also, once again, asking the students and teachers to be responsible for fixing a problem that belongs to the entire community.
• And while we ALL need to be much more kind and relational to EVERYONE, many of the brokenness the shooters have received has been in their homes.

Hashtags are handy. They let us find topics quickly through search engines. But the take away they minimize, politicize and advertise rather than bring about solutions.

Hashtags bind us together. they help us find our people.  I am a #metoo. But those five letters behind the tic tac toe board doesn't tell you my story. You have to know me, listen to me and befriend me before I would trust you with my story. And that is what life is all about. 

Instead of heckling the kids walking out, listen to them, come to know their fears, their anxieties and their helplessness. Comfort the afflicted, shore up the weary. Don't accuse the of just wanting to get out of class, of being driven by politicians to be anti gun. I mean have you stood by and watched your friend die at the age of 14 in what should be one of the safest places you go?

Instead of shaming kids for creating shooters by being mean kids in the third grade to the weird kid, show them how to love (it doesn't happen by you shaming them, or deriding them, calling their cultural ways stupid.) Show them how to lift others up with words and deeds by starting with those that are afraid.

People this shooter problem can't be legislated. It is a human condition problem. Truthfully, I am not a fan of guns. And I am a fan of constitutional rights. But more importantly I know you can kill with out a gun. I come from a state where 168 people where killed and thousands of lives shattered by a an angry, confused man with a truckload of fertilizer. Brokenness can only be mended with holy healing, and that is what we where placed on earth to do, heal with the love of God that lives within us.

Get walking.