Monthly Archives: June 2012

25

Jun. ’12

Satan in Our Septic Tank

Normally on a Sunday or Monday, I use this blog to provide a synopsis of the sermon delivered at Cassidy UMC. The last several days have been odd, however, and I’m in a reflective mood.

As you can see from the previous posting in this blog, we had some plumbing problems develop late Friday. The clogged septic system could not be fixed on Saturday, so our normal worship schedule was basically canceled—it’s hard to have 170 people or so in a building where you cannot flush toilets or run water.  (Apparently the problem has been repaired; as I write this, I can hear the septic pump truck driving away. I also just heard multiple flushes down the hallway, and a man cry out, “Boy, they’re flowing now!”)

This sudden infrastructure problem was in many ways a major letdown, considering what a wonderful week we had experienced otherwise. Dozens of volunteers helped put on a great Vacation Bible School Monday through Friday. We had far more children than we had expected show up (76 on our peak evening), to the point that additional supplies had to be procured mid-week.

And more importantly, this VBS was full of good, holy teaching. We used the Babylon Holy Land Adventure materials this year, and the children spent the week learning the story of Daniel living in exile. The Cassidy folks basically turned the church building and grounds into a miniature version of ancient Babylon, including Daniel’s room and a marketplace. An important Bible story really came to life for a few days in our church.

The children experienced the importance of worshiping and trusting the One True God. They learned to let go of their fears, and they learned to see God as their savior in difficult times, a message that will help them better understand Jesus as Savior for all time. The lessons, played out in drama and ongoing conversations with “Babylonians” in the marketplace, became very real for many of these kids. (At one point, the sound of lions roaring as Daniel was led away became scary enough that we had to show some of the younger children it was a recording.)

By the time of our closing VBS program on Friday, I was talking with parents who came up to me to ask about becoming involved at Cassidy UMC, saying they had no church home. All pastors love having those conversations. And of course, it was about an hour after the last of these conversations that the floor drains began to bubble up whenever a sink or toilet emptied.

It didn’t take me long to make a connection between our clogged main drain and the key point I was planning to preach Sunday. I had spent all week in the Gospel lectionary text, Mark 4:35-41, the story of Jesus stilling the storm. Ironically, I had even entitled the sermon “Swamped.”

The key point: The evil forces that remain in this world mess with us, particularly when Christ’s kingdom is expanding in some dramatic way. The point is fairly obvious in the story, if you read carefully. When Jesus calms the storm, he uses exorcism-type language, rebuking the wind and commanding the sea to be still. This fits our big-picture understanding of a world tainted by sin; we know from Scripture that all of creation is broken and susceptible to the influence of evil. Only Christ, through his sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection, is overcoming and will fully overcome the powers and principalities of this world.

This lesson caused me to ask myself a question: Is Satan messing with Cassidy’s plumbing? As so-called modern, enlightened people, most of us find such an idea medieval. And as a former p.r. guy for a utility company, I’ll be the first to admit that infrastructure tends to collapse during a peak usage event—in this case, more than 100 people in the church on a nightly basis for five days.

If Satan were trying to interfere, however, the timing couldn’t be better. Lots of excitement about what just happened in VBS? Well, shut them down for a Sunday and see how long that excitement lasts.

That’s why I’m proud of the 33 folks who turned out to worship in the front parking lot Sunday. It was simple worship, and surprisingly pleasant in the shade.

Some of us also went visiting in Cassidy’s neighborhoods afterward, talking with folks we found at home during the traditional church hour. We didn’t use our building Sunday, but we took a taste of church to people who perhaps needed to know God was thinking of them. I in particular treasure the 10 minutes one of our youth and I were able to spend with a lady in need of prayer, a lady who invited us into her home.

The work of the kingdom continued, even if only in a small way. And if Satan wants to hang out in our septic tank, it’s an appropriate place for him to be.

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23

Jun. ’12

Note Regarding June 24 Worship

I have some bad news, followed by what I hope will turn into some good news. As of Saturday, June 23, most of the drains leading from the sinks and toilets at Cassidy UMC are backed up. We’ve had a plumber and a septic cleaning company here, but the problem is not going to be repaired until Monday. Obviously, we cannot flush toilets or run water in sinks under current conditions. Here’s the immediate impact, but again, read all the way to the end, as there is an opportunity here:
1) We will not have 8:45 a.m. or 11 a.m. worship in the sanctuary. We also will not have  Sunday school.

2) We will not have the lunch celebrating Elizabeth Carey’s ministry. We’ll have the lunch next week, on July 1.

We’re not closed Sunday, however. We’re just going to do something very different.

I’m asking that you gather in the upper parking lot at the front of the church at 10 a.m. (Note the different time.) First, we will have a short, simple worship service outside together. (I’ve always wanted to preach from the back of a pickup, and now I’m going to do it.)

I then will give everyone a quick lesson in how to do doorstep visits in our neighborhoods, so we can fan out and let people know we are there and that we care for them. I’ll have some materials for you to hand out, too.

We’ll then break into small teams and go visiting for awhile. I know it’s hot, so we’ll keep things simple.

Some of you who are older or struggling with some sort of physical problem may be feeling left out. Please don’t. We will have both the Fusion House and the Lighthouse open. (The bathrooms there are small, but they work.) It is my prayer that some of you who cannot go with a doorstep team will stay in one of the houses and pray for those who do go out.

We’re trying to get word around as best we can. We’ll use every means of communications at our disposal, but if you have friends or family who are part of Cassidy UMC, please be sure they know what’s going on. I think we would all rather get two calls than no call at all.

Some things to think about:

1) Dress in a comfortable and cool manner.
2) Bring drinks.
3) Bring umbrellas. There’s a slight chance of rain, and you can use them to keep the sun off, too.
4) Bring a lawn chair, if you think you might want to sit down during our shortened worship time.

Be in prayer tonight as we approach what could be a very special Sunday.

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18

Jun. ’12

Mystery of the Creeping Kingdom

Mark 4:26-34

Note: I tried something a little different Sunday, a sermon that involved more conversation with those in attendance than preaching. I’m also trying to take better advantage of forums like Facebook to be in conversation about a biblical text before I preach it. If you would like to join in those pre-sermon conversations, go the the Sermon Shorts page on Facebook. I’ll usually have basic information about the Bible text for the week posted by Tuesday or Wednesday. “Like” the page, and you’ll know when new postings are made.

When I was in second grade at Jonesborough Elementary School in Jonesborough, Tenn., we would have multiple classes on the playground during the same recess period. It was a new school, and it had a really big play area: swings, slides and other playground equipment, an outdoor basketball court and lots of green space sloping down from the building.

When it was time to go in, a teacher would gather all the kids simply by standing at the top of the hill and raising her hand. We knew we had better get in line quickly.

One day, my friend Sam said he was ready to go in. No problem, I said. I simply stood in the right spot and raised my hand. I didn’t really expect anything to happen.

Something did happen, however. What looked like a sea of second-graders washed toward me, coming from the slides, the swings, and the asphalt court at the bottom of the hill. Now I had both hands up: “No, no, I was just kidding!”

Then I looked behind me. There stood one of the teachers, her hand in the air. I’m not sure she had even seen me, or that any kid on the playground had noticed me; it simply was time to go in.

It was an early lesson for me in how we don’t always recognize the power behind us, the real cause of events in which we find ourselves. Understanding that God is behind all kingdom-building moments is the point of our Scripture today.

It’s a simple idea. Trust that God is doing the work. God even does the initial sowing, working through Jesus Christ to draw us back into a relationship. Yes, we’re invited, even commanded, to sow seed alongside God. But it is word of God’s saving grace being poured out on all creation that grows the kingdom, not our efforts.

Dialogue Time:

1) Are you sowing? If not, why not? Some of the people involved in the conversation, either in our worship services or on Facebook earlier in the week, noted a feeling of inadequacy. We talked about how discipleship is the answer. We need to know God’s word well enough to be able to tell others about it in a comfortable, relaxed way. We also have to know how to build genuine relationships that give us the right to tell another person about Christ.

2) Do you know where the field is? I noted that it’s usually not in the church building. The days when the lost actually entered the church looking for answers are over. We have to go outside, understanding our church building to be a place for worship and training. We heard some encouraging reminders of people who have learned of Christ through the simplest outreach efforts. Those stories took us to the “mustard seed” portion of our text.

I am convinced that the mustard seed parable is there to show us we will be surprised by what happens. Our expectations are rooted in what we think is possible. God tells us the results of our sowing will be rooted much more deeply, in what God says is possible.

In fact, we could be like I was on the playground in second grade, holding up both hands, so shocked at the results of our efforts that our first reaction is, “We have to stop this.” The people rushing at us may look different, or have unusual worship ideas, or have sets of problems unfamiliar to us.

But with God standing behind us, we have nothing to fear. If we’re faithful in sowing seeds, he’ll show us how to handle the crowds of people wanting Jesus in their lives.

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10

Jun. ’12

Sounds Crazy

Mark 3:20-35

You may be a Christian, but are you willing to be crazy for Christ?

In the Gospel of Mark, there’s no real information about Jesus’ birth or early life. Instead, we begin with a prophet’s declarations about who Jesus is. Jesus then is baptized, the Spirit falls upon him, and “immediately”—a word used regularly in Mark—we enter a cycle of preaching and healing that rapidly creates a following among astonished Jews. They press in, wanting their share of this powerful, loving grace handed out so freely.

Jesus seems completely immersed in his ministry. There’s no evidence of detailed planning, a formal schedule, or even time for regular meals. Everything is just happening; energy and excitement rule the day, and Jesus, the Son of God, follows the Father’s will perfectly.

He is, of course, the perfect model for how to respond to the Father, showing us how to love God and our neighbors with passionate energy. Those of you who are Christians likely remember being filled with a similar excitement when you first understood Jesus to be your Lord and Savior.

Do you remember? Did anything else seem to matter? Did anything else take precedence, even food, family, or work? If you really experienced conversion, I suspect you’re remembering an all-consuming experience, the fire of Christianity burning bright in you.

It’s hard to sustain, I know. Life starts to get in the way. In fact, life can pound away at you like a relentless surf, and over time, the flame can seem to cool. Satan could not overcome Jesus, but Satan still wants to overcome us, if only to slow us down, to delay his inevitable destruction.

To do that, he works through people to use some of the same techniques we see at work in today’s text. The first is to make the Christian message seem out-of-step with whatever “normal” is supposed to be. Essentially, he wants observers of a passionate Christian to say what the observers of Christ said: “He is out of his mind.”

You can hear Satan whisper: “Yes, great things are happening. Yes, there’s excitement in the air. Yes, lives are being changed. But careful—the whole thing sounds crazy. Better stay away from crazy.”

But here’s the problem when we as Christians succumb, when we fade back into the background out of fear of being called crazy. We fail to be the followers Christ sought.

Christianity is not supposed to look normal. It is countercultural. We declare the world is capable of being something it currently is not.

We declare that a man died on a cross nearly 2,000 years ago and then walked out of his tomb, remade and eternally alive, so that what the world considers normal—suffering, sickness, cruelty, violence, death—could be turned upside down.

I’m sorry, but if you think being Christian somehow means you’re normal, then you’ve never understood Christ’s work. When you accepted your baptism, you did a very odd thing in the eyes of the world, so odd that people might consider you dangerous if you really begin to live your faith.

And if you really try to live it, Satan may even go so far as to twist what is evil and what is good, in the hope that people may reject your Christian behavior as evil. It’s happening all over the world right now. People in the Middle East, in huge portions of Asia, in Africa, in Europe and in many other places are labeled a threat to “normal” society for preaching the crazy idea that Christ is remaking this world and will remake it in full one day.

Often, they lose their jobs or their status in society. Sometimes they lose their lives, joining the ranks of the martyrs, the people who die rather than allow their beliefs to be co-opted.

It’s going to happen here, if the divide between secular values and Christian values continues to grow. (I’m careful to say “if.” This nation has experienced Great Awakenings before, and can do so again.) Already, when Christians say the Bible clearly defines what is and is not sin, and try to live accordingly, we are called “intolerant,” code language designed to set us apart from “normal” society.

I am concerned for those who attack Christianity as evil. Christians have debated for years precisely what it means to commit the unforgivable sin, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. But certainly, it has something to do with describing the presence of God as evil, and also certainly, the presence of God is found in the church, among Christ’s followers today.

Mostly, though, I look to this elaborate text for inspiration. Oh, to feel such excitement in every moment of ministry—to see people so stirred up for healing and words of grace that meals must be foregone and schedules tossed out as the crowds press in.

Remember, it is in such raucous, upside-down moments that Jesus finds the people he calls his brothers and sisters.

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