Bullies

Sermon given at Grace UMC 9/13/15

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^NRSNumbers 13:26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷ And they told him, "We came to the land to which you sent us; it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. ²⁸ Yet the people who live in the land are strong, and the towns are fortified and very large; and besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. ²⁹ The Amalekites live in the land of the Negeb; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea, and along the Jordan." ³⁰ But Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it." ³¹ Then the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against this people, for they are stronger than we." ³² So they brought to the Israelites an unfavorable report of the land that they had spied out, saying, "The land that we have gone through as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people that we saw in it are of great size. ³³ There we saw the Nephilim (the Anakites come from the Nephilim); and to ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them."

This week I have spent time with the Bishop and his steering committee talking about the future of the Virginia Annual Conference. In those discussions I heard a lot about spiritual formation, was quizzed on how Discipleship Circles, a method for working toward answers to growth, church vitality and issues that challenge us that puts spirituality first before human responses to the questions. I heard the Bishop talk about what legacy he wishes to leave behind when he leaves the conference next September and the work that needs to be done between now and then. Then I spent Saturday working with a team of our leaders focusing on Reaching New People. How do we reach a culture that quite frankly does not know what we do or the message we have to offer? How do reach out to people who know church as that place that seems always to be in the news in a bad light or filled with strange people with strange ideas? After coming home last night I thought about what I had heard and what the future direction of the church, specifically Grace United Methodist Church, is going to be. 

In our scripture God has told Moses to send spies into the land and report back. These spies have seen the Promised Land that God has told them about for the past forty years. But they have also seen giants, strong fortified cities and the offspring of Angels. So they come back with a report that scares most of the people. The same people who have seen God overcome every obstacle that has been placed in their way. So they begin to do what we human beings do and that is whine when we see things in our way that we cannot figure out how to overcome. Now the spies did not intend to upset the plans that God has for them. But well, they are human and we humans often cannot see the way because we are too often focused on our own abilities and lack the ability to trust God.

Six months ago Don Foster and I shared with you the idea that we can grow a church through relationship. In fact, what we shared with you was that we are not the church of our parents or grandparents who lived in a time when we opened the doors and people came. We live in a world that has become very “me” centered and our response must be to work within the culture of the world to bring a message that transcends all cultures and understandings. As I sat and listened to the Bishop I heard the same kind of message that I heard from the consultant who shared with us the future of the church on Saturday. We cannot be the church we have been and still expect to survive. Let me set it in another way. Companies don’t survive by doing things the same way for generations. My dad spent his life in the steel industry and I am glad that he was able to retire from that occupation. But truth is he went from upper middle class to lower middle class over a few years because the people who ran those companies believed that they did not have to change the way they did things or the technology that they used to do them. Interesting side note, Dad wanted me to follow him in that line of work so many years ago, so much so he had gotten me a job without asking me what I wanted to do and sprung it on me the day of my graduation from High School. Needless to say one of the biggest arguments between him and me resulted in one of the many estrangements of our lives. That is what is meant by bullies by the way, well intentioned desires by someone we know and often love, who sabotage or circumvent the dreams that God has given us.

So here we are today, six months later, relatively nowhere better for the efforts of our training and presentation. Why? Maybe because we thought foolishly that if we made the presentation you would see the beauty of it and jump on board. But that is not how we work is it? Many of you want to understand more or see successes before you are going to commit to being a part of the world that someone else’s envisions. To sit here this morning and say that I believe that God has given me a vision for the future of the church doesn’t mean that you are going to buy even a single piece of that stock. So what will help you to buy in to a future vision of this church?

So let me offer you some data:

•         19 % of the population attend Sunday mornings

•         33 % under age 30 have no religious background

•         125,000 churches closed last year

•         80/90 % are declining

Now here is some data worth paying attention to:

•         There are 16, 594 people within 10 miles of the Grace UMC

•         Statistics tell us 13,192 do not attend church

•         1 % of that total is 132

•         Of the 13,192, 8,575 have never been invited to church, especially our church

•         Data suggests that 6,260 would come if invited

•         1 % of that number is 63

•         Based on that data our average worship attendance which is 116 should be between 179 and 248

So why can’t we achieve those numbers?

Maybe because we have forgotten two important points about our lives as Christian people. The first and most important is that God alone gives vision about the future direction of the church. Just as God told the Israelites that God was going to bring them into the land of milk and honey, God is telling us that we can increase our actively attending worshiping folks who show up on Sunday morning or Sunday night. But like the spies sent out into the land, our own concerns keep us from realizing that reality. So the first point is that we need to trust God with all that we are. 

The second point is that we must learn new skills. A great deal of the work that has been going on has been done to prepare us for a new reality with a new future. Fixing up the house of God was only a small part of the overall plan that needs to be followed to see the land of milk and honey realized. So what are these new skills?

First we need to rededicate our Discipleship and trust in God. We do this through intentional work at building our relationship with God. Reading the Bible daily, praying constantly, spending time with our Christian sisters and brothers and finally believing that God can and will make a difference in our lives. Instead of waiting for God begin to believe that God can and live into that reality. There is a story of a missionary who was sailing to China. A ship’s captain was upset because his ship was floundering because the wind that moves him had stopped. Nothing is more serious to a sailor in the seventeen or eighteen hundreds than the loss of wind. Without it we cannot move, we are caught in a place of inaction and despair can set in because we have no control over the moment. Knowing that a man of God was below deck, the captain went down and talked with him. He asked the preacher to pray for wind. Sometime later the preacher came up on deck and was surprised. He sought out the captain and told him, you ask for God’s help and yet the sails are not unfurled, open to the wind that will come. You pray and yet you don’t believe that God can provide defeating the very power you seek. We are a church with the sails that are not yet unfurled open to the wind that will come. Let us unfurl our sails and trust God to guide us believing that God has already set the plan into motion.

Second we have to trust that God will teach us how to build new relationships with people through our witness. Let me explain how all that works. Each of us has hobbies and/ or things that we do. Like going to the beach or the Barrier Islands, going bowling or golfing or sewing and the list goes on. God has given you special talents and gifts that make you who you are. Use them! If you truly want to grow this church it is as simple as doing what you are already doing, except, you invite folks to do it with you. Friends who you know through church and then folks you know who don’t go to church anywhere. Plan a picnic on the beach and invite some of your friends from the church and have each of them invite some of their friends from work or school or your neighborhood. Then do it again. While you are there on the beach do what you normally would do. Nothing less, nothing more! Allow them to get to know you better and in the meantime they will also get to know your church friends. After friendships have developed or been strengthened, then invite them a church supper or a church activity. Talk to them about how God has changed your life and how God is working within your life. Believe it or not, 80 % of them will come to church with you if you develop those relationships.

Finally, develop relationships with people you don’t know. Suppose you are sitting in Club Car and see someone who you do not know. During your time there take the time to go over and introduce yourself. Not as Joe or Suzy Church person, but as simply you. Get to know something about them and then write it down later. That way when you see them again you can start at a different place. Let say you are in line and a new person is behind you, you could say, hi, I am Don. Are you new to the area? The person might say, no, I have lived here all my life in which case you could say, oh, well, I haven’t been here for a long time but I have not seen you before. Do you live around here? Why yes, I live here in Parksley. So what do you do? I am a teacher over at the High School. What do you teach? I teach history and coach the golf team. Well, take care. Then jot it down and the next time you see them you might ask, so how is the golf team doing and you are off to a deeper conversation.

If we want to make a difference in the lives of those around us, we must learn to trust God and to share the message of love with the world, one person at a time.

The Big Dream

Sermon given at Grace UMC 9/6/15

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^NRSExodus 3:7 Then the LORD said, "I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, ⁸ and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁹ The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. ¹⁰ So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt."

Every one of us has dreams, some of them are big dreams and some of them are unfilled dreams but all of us have dreams. Over the next three weeks I intend to explore with you what it means to have dreams and why God wants you to fulfill your dreams. When Disney World held its grand opening in Orlando Florida, the widow of Walt Disney attended the ceremony. The great park was beautiful, exceeding every hope and dream. Someone walked up to Mrs. Disney and said, “I wish Walt could have seen this.” She smiled and replied, “He did.” If there hadn’t been a Walt Disney to dream it into existence, Disney World would never have been built. Walt Disney did not let the fact that the technology did not exist to stop him from inventing it. He allowed his dreams to guide him in spite of the world’s naysayer’s who said a permanent amusement park will never make a profit. In fact, I am told, that Disney envisioned a community with the best technology, people living with the things that we can only imagine as they went about their daily lives. This place was to be called Epcot. When Disney passed away the people at Disney could not see what he saw and so Epcot became another amusement park rather than the community Walt intended it to be. There are two types of people in the world, those that pursue their dreams and those who deny them. What did you want to be when you grew up? Did you achieve your dream? When I was little I wanted to be an astronaut and touch the sky. I learned to fly at a young age and pursued my dream. What I found was there was a bigger dream than even I could have imagined.

But if I had not pursued the big dream, I would not have found the special dream that God had just for me. George Bernard Shaw sums it up best when he said, “You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not?”

Over the next three weeks we are going to learn about

Discovering the dream

How to move out of your comfort zone

Escaping the bullies

Persevering through the wilderness

Finding Sanctuary

Battling the giants

Entering the Promised Land

Much of this material comes from a great little book titled The Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkinson. In fact I brought a copy with me so that you can see how small it is and yet I want you to know that it is the biggest little book I have ever found, next to the Bible. When you think you cannot, read this book.

Do you remember when you learned to swim? Remember stepping into the water for the first time and when you stepped out into water above your head. It was scary wasn’t it? And yet you did not want to appear to be scared so you dived in, right? Well, for most of us the answer is no. This was unfamiliar territory and we were not about to step out there.

That is where most dreams lie. Most of us are in our own comfort zones where we are content and happy. Life may not be what we want it to be and maybe it could be better, but hey, I am ok. And besides, no one else I know is out there doing silly stuff like pursuing their dreams. When you were little, did you parents tell you that you could do anything that you set your mind to as long as you pursued it? Or were your parents like mine who suggested that you should just be satisfied with life as it is?

We’ll talk about them next week, but suffice it to say that many of us never pursue our dreams because we are convinced we could not achieve them anyway. But just like learning to swim, if you step our in faith and with a little guidance, well wonderful things can happen.

But what does the bible say? Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,

God is constantly telling us to run the race. Don’t stand around wishing you had, just jump right in. But this would require us to step out of our own comfort zones and leave the land of familiar behind. Why isn’t that what the new minister is asking me to do? He is saying that we need to step out in faith if we want the church to grow or for God to speak to us or…..

How would the story of Israel have ended if Moses had reacted differently? How did he react? Exodus 3:11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" How about Abraham? Or David and Goliath? Each of us comes to this place today with a big dream. It may be that we want to finish our education or help the poor. I remember not to many years ago that for a young girl to have any ambition was an unthinkable thing. Why, women are to stay home and have babies and shouldn’t they be happy with that? I wonder how many of us would be where we are today if our own mothers bought into that concept. What is your comfort zone? Where is it that you go on any given day? And while you are there do you ever dream about what might have been or what might be possible? And do you tell your children and grandchildren that they can achieve anything if they try? In order to achieve our dreams we first have to listen for them. I suspect all of you at this point are thinking about your own dreams, the ones you had or the ones you have. I know an 83 year old woman who is attended seminary. Oh she will tell you she never expects to preach. And yet, she was impacting an unbelievable group of young adults just because she was there. See, she decided to pursue her dream even though life and time had gotten in the way. It’s never too late to pursue your dreams. But first you have to value the dream more than you own comfort. Hebrews 11 tell us that ”¹³ All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, ¹⁴ for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.”

If each of those that followed God had stayed in their comfort zones, where would we be today? You have to accept the possibility of failing. In fact God suggests in Hebrews 12 that we are to endure hardships in order to be guided through the childhood phase of our lives. And we must choose to be strong and courageous and make decisions not to turn back – a commitment with no escape clause. Have you ever considered the implications of a prenuptial agreement? Why the couple has written an escape clause for their eventual failure. They have one foot out the door before they ever step into the room. Don’t we do the same thing every day?

I’m gonna listen to this discipleship stuff, but you are not going to get me to buy into it until I see some results. I mean, I want the church to grow and I want to have that joy and I want to have a relationship with God, BUT! My good friend Rick Griffith tells me all the time that I have to let go of my comfort zone and listen to the quiet voice of God. Next week we will explore what is holding you back and who is holding you back. But for right now, do you have dreams? I want you to know that God has a dream for you. It is there for you to reach out and grab it. Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal!

Ordinary

Sermon given at Grace UMC 8/30/15

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Scripture Reading:

^NRS  1 John 1:1 We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- ² this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us-- ³ we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. ⁴ We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. ⁵ This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; ⁷ but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. ⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Sometimes there are great books that come into my consciousness, books that change the way I think about things, important things like life. Bruce Wilkinson’s little book, The Dream Giver, is one of those works that I think everyone would enjoy reading and having a copy available in their libraries. It is a short book which makes it even more likeable to my way of thinking. The central character is someone that all of us can identify with, a person called Ordinary. I believe that this book is wonderful in its illustration of faith and perseverance.

You see this fellow Ordinary lived in the Land of Familiar. There he had the usual job, friends and family, and lived a life that could be considered by us as routine and well, Ordinary. Each of us can identify with this type of existence, for the most part; it is how we live our lives each and every day. We bumble along in our ordinary existence, wandering from place to place, looking for something to fulfill our needs. So too is the story of Ordinary. In the midst of this existence, Ordinary suddenly had a dream and in the window sill he found a feather. When he talked to his father, he found out that his father also had had a big dream when he was young, which included the feather. But unfortunately, his father never followed up on his dream and feather wilted away. What strikes me as rather extraordinary about this story is the inclusion of the feather. For a feather is the instrument that was used to write words on a page in the early days of our ancestors. So isn’t it interesting that a Big Dream would include a reference to a written record. It is my belief that we have here an analogy to the one true written record that records our big dreams and the story of each of our lives, the Bible. The other fact that strikes me in this story is the dream itself. For I believe that God reaches us sometimes through dreams. In our dreams we are given insight into our future opportunities as well as being instructed on his will for our lives.

So in our story, Ordinary decides to act on his dream. He decides to go in search of the land of opportunity. He doesn’t know where he is going or really how to get there. This story to this point really begins to remind me of the story of Abraham and Sara. They had a very comfortable life in the land of Abraham’s father, with land and wealth and means. And then one day, God sends Abraham a message, a Big Dream. Just as Ordinary decided to seek out this dream, so too did Abraham and we all are thankful for that decision.

I read the other day that we do not come to Jesus because we are righteous and strong, but because we are needy. Once in his presence, then he lifts us up so that we may become instruments of his ministry. As we experience our Big Dreams and begin to contemplate what they mean, let us be reminded to pray and experience then the discernment of God’s will. That is a difficult thing to do as each of us has at different moments in time experienced a strong urge to go in one direction or the other.

So Ordinary begins his quest. He sells all that he has, quits his job and says goodbye to all of his friends and sets out on his journey. Have you ever experienced this? Have you began a college career, gotten married and moved from where you were to a new place, gotten a new job or began a new phase of your life? Now several members of my family are in this phase of their lives today, college, marriage and new jobs. With each passing moment we experience anxiety and fear as we move out of that magical place called our comfort zone. I often ask myself what Abraham must have felt, moving to place as yet unknown to him, to a life he could not even imagine, for a future he could not even see. Each of us finds ourselves being asked to move out of our comfort zones many times during our lives and it is a difficult thing to do. We find hundreds of excuses and reasons why we should stay right where we are. If we are not careful, we then find ourselves stuck in the ordinary world and miss out on the extraordinary opportunities that God has in store for us. It is during these times that we must learn to pray, one with another and alone to discern what Big Dream God has for us.

As Ordinary begins his journey, he encounters bullies. Now these are not the bullies whom you might expect. They are his friends and his family. They have come to talk Ordinary out of this dream. I am reminded by this story of the story in Matthew where Mary and the brothers of Jesus had come to take him home. The reason that they try and help talk you out of your dreams is that the dream itself is taking them out of their comfort zone. While we are busily moving along in search of our purpose, we interact with others. That interaction can disrupt their lives as they are themselves forced to look introspectively into their purpose and their lives. So too it was with Ordinary as he first talks to his mother and then his friends. But we must prevail, God has a purpose for each of us and we cannot waver. When we do, the devil puts bullies in our path to discourage us or force us another way.

As we begin the journey, many of us have been fortunate to receive help from friends and new acquaintances. These champions help sustain us, lift us up and give us strength. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are great examples of those whom we can rely on when things do not go well or we need help and strength in the face of adversity and fear. We often refer to our guardian angel when we talk about those times that we were weak and yet we were given the strength to overcome the obstacles in front of us. One of the tragedies of the story is the loss of a champion who on the road to the Land of Promise gives all they have. The bright spot is that they are lifted up as a true hero. We have an excellent example of this type of champion in the story of Jesus who gave all that he could, so that we might yet attain our dreams.

This story would not be complete without a time of testing. As we move forward in our journey, we encounter the waste land and giants. Again I am reminded of a biblical story of the forty days in the desert and then of Paul who went off alone to prepare for his ministry. Many years ago, I was reminded that we are all tested and over the last few weeks, months and years, I have felt tested to limits of my very being. At times I have failed and have stood before God in tears and asked for forgiveness. How about you? Have you not had similar experiences in your journey and throughout your life? Why even now, one or all of us may be in the midst of the greatest trial of our lives. Before us stand giants who are prepared to keep us from our path. These giants are familiar beings, hate, financial woes, discouragement, lust, fear, anger, and bitterness. But we must lift our battle up to God to help us. We ourselves are not prepared or able to win these fights. Oh, we think we can our egos bigger than the world around us. But the reality is that we cannot. Much of our world’s noise and activity seems designed to silence our hungers and longings of our heart. Maybe we are unaware of these deep, inner hungers. They are there, but perhaps no one has encouraged us to pay attention. If we would listen to Jesus, we will discover that these longings are the doorways through which we come into the land of God. As we travel through the waste lands of our lives, occasionally we come to a place of sanctuary. In those places we may be tested even more by being asked by God to give up our dreams. Remember the story of Abraham and Isaac? After all he had been through, Abraham was asked to give it all up. When he did, God knew that he truly was a man with God in his heart.

How would you do? Today I fear that asked to give up everything, I would waver from the path or fail in my strength to fall to the giants in my life. How about you? We must hold to the path, stay the course as the expression goes. And open our hearts to the God’s message. Will we falter, sure we will. Will we fail at times, we most certainly will. But God knows this and has sent champions into the world to help us fight these battles. Think about the pray in the Garden of Gethsemane. Even Jesus was having a weak moment, faced with death and fear. But he lifted it up to the father who sent angels to strengthen him. If you have not had the opportunity to see the movie “the Passion”, I highly recommend it. But be prepared to be challenged in how you currently thought about the last hours and how they actually were. Champions, who give their all in the struggle for righteousness, are beaten severely before they fall. Be thankful for champions.

And then one day when we least expect it, we have arrived. We begin our life of service as instruments of hope on a dark world. We become the means through which others may experience their big dreams and start on their journeys. But don’t get too comfortable. Just when things are going really well it’s time for a new big dream and off we go again. But don’t let that discourage you, for each dream takes us closer and closer to him, upon whom, all big dreams reside. You see my friends, God is always calling.  “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.” (NRSV 1 Jn 1:5)