Focus Can Help Christmas Mission Giving by Tom Berlin
Tom Berlin
Many churches confront a question of missional focus, especially as the holiday season approaches. One group proposes an angel tree project. Another wants to do a coat drive. Someone else is collecting toiletries for the homeless, grocery cards for the hungry, toys for needy children. Needs are great everywhere. So shouldn’t your church offer many opportunities for people to help?
While the “more is better” philosophy is appealing, there are equally compelling arguments for cutting the clutter and staying focused on a narrower range of clearly identified priorities. As the church I serve has grown, it has worked to bring consistency and alignment to its missional efforts. Our focus has coalesced around work with children in poverty. We give away the entire Christmas Eve offering, which supports our core efforts in this area. This is a big celebration for the church each year. The results of the offering are posted on our website on Christmas morning, and many have told me that celebrating the generosity of the church is how they begin Christmas Day.
But we have also found that providing certain types of special giving opportunities at the beginning of Advent can help church members respond to the pressures of materialism and consumerism at Christmas. Members have asked for our help in making their Christmas more holy. They want opportunities to focus their family on others, and share gifts with family and friends that might bless people in need while honoring those they love.
In late November and early December, we offer members the opportunity to support our missions or any of our community partners, providing an appropriate card that can be presented in lieu of a gift to those on their Christmas list. This “alternate giving opportunity” helps members respond creatively and generously to their desire to give gifts without purchasing yet another unneeded item for people who have so much already. We also provide an “advent giving tree” for families. They are encouraged to take a tag that specifies gifts of diapers, clothing, or toys for children connected with our outreach ministries.
These gifts are purchased and brought to church in early December. A family devotional is included that explains who is receiving the gift and why it will make a difference to others. The experience of selecting the gift and using the devotional resource is a tangible way to experience and teach children about the love of Christ. The goal here is not to get money from church members in a veiled manner, but to assist them in making their Christmas celebration less materialistic. We do not set goals or push people to participate.
We clearly announce these opportunities, but emphasize that they are available because people have asked for the help of the church to bless others. An added benefit is that this approach educates people, both within and beyond the church, about the needs of others and how the church responds. Offering these carefully framed giving opportunities is a “both/and” approach that honors people’s desire to help others in a way consistent with the church’s broader priorities. Some members and families have been so touched by these efforts that they have taken steps to reduce their giving to each other so that they can do more in their community.
By the time we get to Christmas Day, the church is able to have a real celebration of generosity and the calling of Christ to bless others as we celebrate the gift of the incarnation.
Tom Berlin is lead pastor of Floris United Methodist Church in Herndon, Virginia, and coauthor with Lovett H. Weems, Jr., of Bearing Fruit: Ministry with Real Results. (Abingdon Press, 2011). A new book on this topic is A Different Kind of Christmas by Mike Slaughter, available from Cokesbury and Amazon . Slaughter’s previous book, Christmas is Not Your Birthday is also available at Cokesbury and Amazon.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Personal Samaria
1 Chronicles 16-23-25
2 Corinthians 5: 12-21
Matthew 28: 18; Acts 1: 7-8
Personal Samaria
A good many years ago, the first Star Wars movie came out. Our oldest son was totally fascinated by all the advertising for the movie, and wanted to see it so much he could hardly contain himself. He was about 10 or 11 years old. I think it was the second or third weekend when it was in a theater in the town a few miles away that we decided to see it. By then the crowds had settled down to a roar and there was actually room to get into the theater without having to stand in long lines. My mother was out visiting then—we lived in New Jersey—and she liked movies a lot, so she decided to go with us. As we sat there in the dark, with our oldest son riveted on the screen, and as the plot developed with all its fascinating characters, Grandma found the whole thing funny, and started to giggle at characters and dialogue. Then laugh out loud. Our son got disgusted, got up and moved about 6 rows down to be alone and away from his Grandma who was making fun of what he thought of as a very serious movie.
Out of that movie came a famous line. “May the force be with you”. That is the intent of the words of Jesus this morning. May the force be with you as you go about your work.
In both Matthew and Luke, in their recordings of Jesus’ last words before his ascension, he is telling his followers that God’s force will be with them. The Holy Spirit. And in both gospels he is giving directions to his followers—all of us—as to what we are to do with the help of that force, the Holy Spirit.
In Matthew it is to go into all the world and baptize, and make and teach disciples.
In Luke his directions are a little different, more detailed, and perhaps a lot more challenging. He tells them “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Now I am going to show you a map of the area we know of as the Holy Land, and give you some idea of what made this challenge so difficult for his followers. And, for you and I, today. This little area known as Samaria was a huge “oh oh” for Jesus’ followers. Many years before 587 BC, the Northern Kingdom, the part called Israel in the Hebrew Bible but that we read about as Galilee in the New Testament, had fallen to the Assyrians. The Northern Kingdom included the area of Samaria. This area came under Babylonian rule in the 600’s BC. Although it was invaded twice before, the Southern Kingdom of Judah, or Judea, remained under the control of the Jews, until 587 BC. Then Babylonia took over completely.
When Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed in 587 BC, most of the people were taken into exile. However, both when Assyria had taken over the Northern Kingdom, and when Babylon took it all over, some were left behind, and although not free, they lived where they had always lived. This was especially true in that area known as Samaria.
The Jewish people in exile were kept out of their homeland for 40 years. Then they were allowed to return, although still not free. When they did return, they had no love for the Jews who had stayed behind and blended somewhat into the culture of their rulers. This was especially true for the Samaritans, who practiced all the traditions of the Hebrew people, but were not considered “pure”. So, no good Jew (and that included Jesus, and all his followers) who wanted to go between Galilee and Judea would pass through Samaria.
Kinda like Woody Hayes and the state of Michigan. Woody refused to buy gas or food in Michigan.
Samaritans were despised, both by the Galileans and by the Judeans.
Jesus did go through Samaria in his ministry, he did stop there at a well, and talk to a Samaritan woman who was living with a man who was not her husband, and he did preach and teach the people there for 3 days. But this still did not sit well with the disciples. So when told to go to Samaria…. Well….. Wow…. That is a boundary they did not want to cross at all. This is a time to ask yourself some very probing, and possibly uncomfortable questions. Such as: Who, or what is your personal Samaria? Where is your Samaritan boundary that you do not want to cross in taking God’s message out to someone else?
It is a whole lot easier to take God’s message to our Jerusalem. Jerusalem for us is our family. We are comfortable there, and can speak more fully and with less fear there. And it isn’t quite as hard to take God’s message to our Judea. Judea for us is our closest friends, including our friends here in the congregation.
But what about beyond our comfort zone, the area and the people with whom we are already comfortable? The passage in Acts makes it clear that when the Holy Spirit enters us, when we accept Jesus as Christ, Lord, Savior, we become his witnesses, and we are to go into our Samaria. We have to cross that boundary and enter where we are not comfortable at all, because God’s message has to go there.
There is a land out there waiting for us. We are called to witness there for Jesus. It isn’t an option for those who claim him as Savior. It is a commission, a command. As we approach Advent, it is good to look upon our personal Samarias and ask God for the courage to go there. He will give that courage, and the power you need to be the witness we are all called to be. Amen
2 Corinthians 5: 12-21
Matthew 28: 18; Acts 1: 7-8
Personal Samaria
A good many years ago, the first Star Wars movie came out. Our oldest son was totally fascinated by all the advertising for the movie, and wanted to see it so much he could hardly contain himself. He was about 10 or 11 years old. I think it was the second or third weekend when it was in a theater in the town a few miles away that we decided to see it. By then the crowds had settled down to a roar and there was actually room to get into the theater without having to stand in long lines. My mother was out visiting then—we lived in New Jersey—and she liked movies a lot, so she decided to go with us. As we sat there in the dark, with our oldest son riveted on the screen, and as the plot developed with all its fascinating characters, Grandma found the whole thing funny, and started to giggle at characters and dialogue. Then laugh out loud. Our son got disgusted, got up and moved about 6 rows down to be alone and away from his Grandma who was making fun of what he thought of as a very serious movie.
Out of that movie came a famous line. “May the force be with you”. That is the intent of the words of Jesus this morning. May the force be with you as you go about your work.
In both Matthew and Luke, in their recordings of Jesus’ last words before his ascension, he is telling his followers that God’s force will be with them. The Holy Spirit. And in both gospels he is giving directions to his followers—all of us—as to what we are to do with the help of that force, the Holy Spirit.
In Matthew it is to go into all the world and baptize, and make and teach disciples.
In Luke his directions are a little different, more detailed, and perhaps a lot more challenging. He tells them “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Now I am going to show you a map of the area we know of as the Holy Land, and give you some idea of what made this challenge so difficult for his followers. And, for you and I, today. This little area known as Samaria was a huge “oh oh” for Jesus’ followers. Many years before 587 BC, the Northern Kingdom, the part called Israel in the Hebrew Bible but that we read about as Galilee in the New Testament, had fallen to the Assyrians. The Northern Kingdom included the area of Samaria. This area came under Babylonian rule in the 600’s BC. Although it was invaded twice before, the Southern Kingdom of Judah, or Judea, remained under the control of the Jews, until 587 BC. Then Babylonia took over completely.
When Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed in 587 BC, most of the people were taken into exile. However, both when Assyria had taken over the Northern Kingdom, and when Babylon took it all over, some were left behind, and although not free, they lived where they had always lived. This was especially true in that area known as Samaria.
The Jewish people in exile were kept out of their homeland for 40 years. Then they were allowed to return, although still not free. When they did return, they had no love for the Jews who had stayed behind and blended somewhat into the culture of their rulers. This was especially true for the Samaritans, who practiced all the traditions of the Hebrew people, but were not considered “pure”. So, no good Jew (and that included Jesus, and all his followers) who wanted to go between Galilee and Judea would pass through Samaria.
Kinda like Woody Hayes and the state of Michigan. Woody refused to buy gas or food in Michigan.
Samaritans were despised, both by the Galileans and by the Judeans.
Jesus did go through Samaria in his ministry, he did stop there at a well, and talk to a Samaritan woman who was living with a man who was not her husband, and he did preach and teach the people there for 3 days. But this still did not sit well with the disciples. So when told to go to Samaria…. Well….. Wow…. That is a boundary they did not want to cross at all. This is a time to ask yourself some very probing, and possibly uncomfortable questions. Such as: Who, or what is your personal Samaria? Where is your Samaritan boundary that you do not want to cross in taking God’s message out to someone else?
It is a whole lot easier to take God’s message to our Jerusalem. Jerusalem for us is our family. We are comfortable there, and can speak more fully and with less fear there. And it isn’t quite as hard to take God’s message to our Judea. Judea for us is our closest friends, including our friends here in the congregation.
But what about beyond our comfort zone, the area and the people with whom we are already comfortable? The passage in Acts makes it clear that when the Holy Spirit enters us, when we accept Jesus as Christ, Lord, Savior, we become his witnesses, and we are to go into our Samaria. We have to cross that boundary and enter where we are not comfortable at all, because God’s message has to go there.
There is a land out there waiting for us. We are called to witness there for Jesus. It isn’t an option for those who claim him as Savior. It is a commission, a command. As we approach Advent, it is good to look upon our personal Samarias and ask God for the courage to go there. He will give that courage, and the power you need to be the witness we are all called to be. Amen
One Room Sunday School
The One Room (Church) School House by Lewis A. Parks
My mother attended a one room schoolhouse for all but the last two years of her public education. As a Baby Boomer, I grew up riding the wave of school growth and consolidation and the several accommodations that went with the territory: school buses, area rather than local sports, and, above all, specialization in curriculum with division of the student population. The churches I attended as a teenager and young adult emulated the best practices of the public school system: dedicated spaces, quality and colorful curriculum supported with the latest innovations in audio-video equipment, and credentialed experts to model and train teachers.
If this were the only script for doing Christian education and formation in a community of faith, small churches would seem to have been left behind — again.
It’s the same familiar story: the needs are too great, the resources are too small. But those who are familiar with small churches know otherwise. The biblical portrait of transmitting the faith from one generation to the next in the context of everyday life continues to thrive in small congregations. The best teaching begins in the character of the teacher (put these words of mine in your heart and soul), capitalizes on teachable moments (when your children ask), and is achieved regardless of setting (when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise). (Deut 6:20-21; 11:18-20).
This is good news for small churches struggling with self-worth but also for the many formerly larger congregations today faced with the upkeep of empty Christian Education buildings, the loss of Sunday School as a primary port of entry (see Mission as the Emerging Entry Point for New People, Leading Ideas, April 6, 2011), and the need to consolidate classes or even grade levels. There is something to be said for the one room schoolhouse model of Christian formation and education, a model that capitalizes on the energy of the intergenerational experience with gentle regard for real differences in cognitive development and literacy.
There are one room schoolhouse examples of Christian education and formation that look like the last desperate efforts of a dying institution. There are others that flourish. The difference seems to be in the element of intentionality.
Someone has to care enough to carry the vision of a dynamic community of learners across age and skill levels, together developing faith foundations. Outside help is available, even a curriculum specifically targeting the one room schoolhouse model (see “One Room Sunday School” at www.Cokesbury.com), but someone has to take the lead in that wonderful small church alchemy of turning necessity into opportunity.
Dr.Lew Parks is professor of theology, ministry, and congregational development and director of the Doctor of Ministry Program at Wesley Theological Seminary. His most recent book is Preaching in the Small Membership Church (Abingdon, 2009). It can be purchased at Amazon or Cokesbury.
My mother attended a one room schoolhouse for all but the last two years of her public education. As a Baby Boomer, I grew up riding the wave of school growth and consolidation and the several accommodations that went with the territory: school buses, area rather than local sports, and, above all, specialization in curriculum with division of the student population. The churches I attended as a teenager and young adult emulated the best practices of the public school system: dedicated spaces, quality and colorful curriculum supported with the latest innovations in audio-video equipment, and credentialed experts to model and train teachers.
If this were the only script for doing Christian education and formation in a community of faith, small churches would seem to have been left behind — again.
It’s the same familiar story: the needs are too great, the resources are too small. But those who are familiar with small churches know otherwise. The biblical portrait of transmitting the faith from one generation to the next in the context of everyday life continues to thrive in small congregations. The best teaching begins in the character of the teacher (put these words of mine in your heart and soul), capitalizes on teachable moments (when your children ask), and is achieved regardless of setting (when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise). (Deut 6:20-21; 11:18-20).
This is good news for small churches struggling with self-worth but also for the many formerly larger congregations today faced with the upkeep of empty Christian Education buildings, the loss of Sunday School as a primary port of entry (see Mission as the Emerging Entry Point for New People, Leading Ideas, April 6, 2011), and the need to consolidate classes or even grade levels. There is something to be said for the one room schoolhouse model of Christian formation and education, a model that capitalizes on the energy of the intergenerational experience with gentle regard for real differences in cognitive development and literacy.
There are one room schoolhouse examples of Christian education and formation that look like the last desperate efforts of a dying institution. There are others that flourish. The difference seems to be in the element of intentionality.
Someone has to care enough to carry the vision of a dynamic community of learners across age and skill levels, together developing faith foundations. Outside help is available, even a curriculum specifically targeting the one room schoolhouse model (see “One Room Sunday School” at www.Cokesbury.com), but someone has to take the lead in that wonderful small church alchemy of turning necessity into opportunity.
Dr.Lew Parks is professor of theology, ministry, and congregational development and director of the Doctor of Ministry Program at Wesley Theological Seminary. His most recent book is Preaching in the Small Membership Church (Abingdon, 2009). It can be purchased at Amazon or Cokesbury.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Bible Study Won't Necessarily Change Your Life
Bible Study Won’t (Necessarily) Change Your Life
Trevin Wax is an editor, author and blogger at "Kingdom People."
Okay, I admit to indulging in a bit of overstatement to shock you into recognizing what should be obvious: just because you know the Bible doesn’t mean the Word will bear fruit in your life. It is possible to know the Scriptures, read the Scriptures, revere the Scriptures, and study the Scriptures and miss the point entirely. Take the liberal scholar who knows the Greek New Testament better than most orthodox pastors. He can quote whole sections of the Bible in its original languages.
Definitions of biblical words tumble out of his mouth as he effortlessly places everything in historical context. And yet he does not believe in the Jesus he reads about in the pages of the Bible. Sure, he is endlessly fascinated by the communities that gave us such an interesting artifact of study. But to him, his job is to immerse himself into a world of fables and dreams. The Bible is an epic story with no bearing on reality today.
Or take the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day who were steeped in the rich traditions of their people’s history. The leaders knew the Scriptures backwards and forwards, yet they had missed the signs pointing to the most important chapter in the Story that God was writing – the chapter that had been foreshadowed by the prophets and Bible writers for thousands of years. That’s why Jesus could say: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me that you may have life!” (John 5:39-40). He doesn’t condemn them for their meticulous knowledge of the Old Testament. He mourns the fact that they’ve missed the point of it all.
Even today, it’s possible to get so wrapped up in searching the Scriptures that we miss what God is trying to teach us. Consider would-be prophets who scour over the prophecies of Revelation trying to pull out clues and codes about the European Union or the next major ecological catastrophe. Caught up in the thrill, the writers lose sight of Revelation’s main purpose: to unveil Jesus! Others get bogged down in theological discussions (Calvinism vs. Arminianism, anyone?) until they eventually start coming to the Scriptures to look for more ammunition for their next debate.
The Bible quietly gets twisted into a divine reference book designed to uphold a beloved system of theology instead of God’s divine revelation designed to shine light on a glorious Savior. And then there’s the common type of Bible study that begins with us at the center and brings God into our world to address our already-defined needs and problems. We look at the Bible as a book of divine instruction, a manual for succeeding in life, or a map for making sure we get to heaven when we die. These ways of studying the Scripture will not result in life transformation. Why? Because they’re missing something. Better put, they’re missing Someone.
Bible study alone is not what transforms your life. Jesus transforms your life. Of course, He does this through His written Word to us. So we must affirm that life change doesn’t happen apart from God’s Word. But the reason God’s Word changes our life is not because of our personal study but because in the Scriptures we are introduced to Jesus, the Author. That’s why every page ought to be written in red, as every section is breathed out by our King and points us to Him. It’s possible to amass great amounts of biblical knowledge, to impress people with your mastery of Bible trivia, to creatively apply the Bible in ways that seem so down to earth and practical, to dot your theological i’s and cross your exegetical t’s – and still miss Jesus. Scary, isn’t it?
That’s why it’s not enough to be “Bible-believing” or “Word-centered,” because, after all, the Bible we believe and the Word we proclaim is itself Christ-centered. The purpose of our Bible study is to know God and make Him known. The Bible unveils Jesus Christ as the focal point of human history. All creation exists by Him, through Him, to Him, and for Him. Our Bible study should exist for Him too. That’s the only kind of Bible study that will change your life
Trevin Wax is an editor, author and blogger at "Kingdom People."
Okay, I admit to indulging in a bit of overstatement to shock you into recognizing what should be obvious: just because you know the Bible doesn’t mean the Word will bear fruit in your life. It is possible to know the Scriptures, read the Scriptures, revere the Scriptures, and study the Scriptures and miss the point entirely. Take the liberal scholar who knows the Greek New Testament better than most orthodox pastors. He can quote whole sections of the Bible in its original languages.
Definitions of biblical words tumble out of his mouth as he effortlessly places everything in historical context. And yet he does not believe in the Jesus he reads about in the pages of the Bible. Sure, he is endlessly fascinated by the communities that gave us such an interesting artifact of study. But to him, his job is to immerse himself into a world of fables and dreams. The Bible is an epic story with no bearing on reality today.
Or take the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day who were steeped in the rich traditions of their people’s history. The leaders knew the Scriptures backwards and forwards, yet they had missed the signs pointing to the most important chapter in the Story that God was writing – the chapter that had been foreshadowed by the prophets and Bible writers for thousands of years. That’s why Jesus could say: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me that you may have life!” (John 5:39-40). He doesn’t condemn them for their meticulous knowledge of the Old Testament. He mourns the fact that they’ve missed the point of it all.
Even today, it’s possible to get so wrapped up in searching the Scriptures that we miss what God is trying to teach us. Consider would-be prophets who scour over the prophecies of Revelation trying to pull out clues and codes about the European Union or the next major ecological catastrophe. Caught up in the thrill, the writers lose sight of Revelation’s main purpose: to unveil Jesus! Others get bogged down in theological discussions (Calvinism vs. Arminianism, anyone?) until they eventually start coming to the Scriptures to look for more ammunition for their next debate.
The Bible quietly gets twisted into a divine reference book designed to uphold a beloved system of theology instead of God’s divine revelation designed to shine light on a glorious Savior. And then there’s the common type of Bible study that begins with us at the center and brings God into our world to address our already-defined needs and problems. We look at the Bible as a book of divine instruction, a manual for succeeding in life, or a map for making sure we get to heaven when we die. These ways of studying the Scripture will not result in life transformation. Why? Because they’re missing something. Better put, they’re missing Someone.
Bible study alone is not what transforms your life. Jesus transforms your life. Of course, He does this through His written Word to us. So we must affirm that life change doesn’t happen apart from God’s Word. But the reason God’s Word changes our life is not because of our personal study but because in the Scriptures we are introduced to Jesus, the Author. That’s why every page ought to be written in red, as every section is breathed out by our King and points us to Him. It’s possible to amass great amounts of biblical knowledge, to impress people with your mastery of Bible trivia, to creatively apply the Bible in ways that seem so down to earth and practical, to dot your theological i’s and cross your exegetical t’s – and still miss Jesus. Scary, isn’t it?
That’s why it’s not enough to be “Bible-believing” or “Word-centered,” because, after all, the Bible we believe and the Word we proclaim is itself Christ-centered. The purpose of our Bible study is to know God and make Him known. The Bible unveils Jesus Christ as the focal point of human history. All creation exists by Him, through Him, to Him, and for Him. Our Bible study should exist for Him too. That’s the only kind of Bible study that will change your life
Suppers Ready
A Potter's Perspective on Life, the Church, and Culture Supper’s Ready!
by Tim McClendon, United Methodist clergy for over thirty years in the South Carolina Conference
October 1, 2012
This is that time of year when I ponder what World Communion really means. I can say that I love everybody, but if I harbor ill will when I come to the Table then it doesn’t do much good. If I’ve been a jerk to someone, I have prevented them from knowing grace, too. I very much like what someone said, “The three phrases we most often desire to hear are: “I love you!” “I forgive you!” and “Supper’s ready!” In the sacrament of Holy Communion we hear all three from Jesus. It’s His Table, and all are invited. It’s up to us to come!
When I was a youngster in my home church we went to Sunday School and afterwards made our way into the sanctuary. The educational building was behind the sanctuary so that if you went from one to the other you usually entered through the back door that opened into the sanctuary right beside the pulpit and altar. If we saw the communion elements and the white cloth spread out we immediately pressed our parents into leaving early.
Communion services were so long and were as somber as a funeral service. We used the old ritual; where what we said reversed our efforts at the Protestant Reformation’s focus on grace. We went back to something that resembled a large confessional booth. We used words like, “We bewail our manifold sins and wickedness which we from time to time have most grievously committed in thought, word, and deed…” I felt sinful enough already. Our communion service added to my sense of guilt. The words of pardon were miniscule in comparison to the confession. I usually left feeling worse.
This is one reason that today when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper; we attempt to focus more on Christ’s marvelous work of grace than on our power to reform ourselves. We, more often than not, now refer to Communion as the Eucharist. Eucharist means Thanksgiving. The most important thing that we do when we come to the Communion Table is say, “Thanks!” to Christ for his gift of mercy. Rather than focus overly on our sinfulness, we thank God for God’s graciousness. What a better perspective!
World Communion Sunday is an event that bridges denominations and spotlights our commonality in the Body of Christ. This world would be so much better off if we looked for that which we hold in common rather than our differences. Holy Communion, rightly observed, reunites the Church. This is the pastor’s hope when he or she holds up the loaf of bread and says, “Because there is one loaf, we who are many, are one body in Christ.”
Therefore, our focus this week is in how to get over our differences and find common power to live in Christ. The Eucharist is a time of positive celebration, reunion, prayer for healing, and a sacred time to put others before ourselves. In my first parish I had three churches. I remember how shocked I was as I went to my first communion service at the smallest church of eight members. When I arrived there was a loaf of sliced “Wonder” bread still in its wrapper on the altar and a bottle of Welch’s grape juice and some small paper cups. They had not had communion in years. I was soon to find out why.
I went through the ritual and opened the altar for people to partake and NOBODY came forward. The reason they hadn’t had communion in years is that they were afraid. They knew full well that they were not living as consistent Christians. They felt too unworthy to come to the Table. I quickly switched sermons and preached on grace. Still nobody came up, but by the time I left there five years later, many did. Those few moved from guilt to grace, judging to acceptance. They found real communion with Jesus, a sacrament indeed.
Dentist Thomas Welch found himself in a somewhat similar situation back in 1869. Communion was problematic for a number of reasons. The alcoholic content of the wine was one of them. Dr. Welch was the Communion Steward for the congregation of First Methodist Church of Vineland, New Jersey. To his dismay, more often than not, communion either set some of the participants off on an alcoholic binge or on a rush to judgment by the abstention crowd. He and his family did experiment after experiment to come up with a solution and they did. He created unfermented grape juice, dubbed it “unfermented wine,” and soon churches all around wanted the product. By 1890 “Dr. Welch’s Grape Juice” had become a staple on communion tables, where it remains so today, all because someone saw communion as a sacrament that brought Christians together, not divided them!
by Tim McClendon, United Methodist clergy for over thirty years in the South Carolina Conference
October 1, 2012
This is that time of year when I ponder what World Communion really means. I can say that I love everybody, but if I harbor ill will when I come to the Table then it doesn’t do much good. If I’ve been a jerk to someone, I have prevented them from knowing grace, too. I very much like what someone said, “The three phrases we most often desire to hear are: “I love you!” “I forgive you!” and “Supper’s ready!” In the sacrament of Holy Communion we hear all three from Jesus. It’s His Table, and all are invited. It’s up to us to come!
When I was a youngster in my home church we went to Sunday School and afterwards made our way into the sanctuary. The educational building was behind the sanctuary so that if you went from one to the other you usually entered through the back door that opened into the sanctuary right beside the pulpit and altar. If we saw the communion elements and the white cloth spread out we immediately pressed our parents into leaving early.
Communion services were so long and were as somber as a funeral service. We used the old ritual; where what we said reversed our efforts at the Protestant Reformation’s focus on grace. We went back to something that resembled a large confessional booth. We used words like, “We bewail our manifold sins and wickedness which we from time to time have most grievously committed in thought, word, and deed…” I felt sinful enough already. Our communion service added to my sense of guilt. The words of pardon were miniscule in comparison to the confession. I usually left feeling worse.
This is one reason that today when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper; we attempt to focus more on Christ’s marvelous work of grace than on our power to reform ourselves. We, more often than not, now refer to Communion as the Eucharist. Eucharist means Thanksgiving. The most important thing that we do when we come to the Communion Table is say, “Thanks!” to Christ for his gift of mercy. Rather than focus overly on our sinfulness, we thank God for God’s graciousness. What a better perspective!
World Communion Sunday is an event that bridges denominations and spotlights our commonality in the Body of Christ. This world would be so much better off if we looked for that which we hold in common rather than our differences. Holy Communion, rightly observed, reunites the Church. This is the pastor’s hope when he or she holds up the loaf of bread and says, “Because there is one loaf, we who are many, are one body in Christ.”
Therefore, our focus this week is in how to get over our differences and find common power to live in Christ. The Eucharist is a time of positive celebration, reunion, prayer for healing, and a sacred time to put others before ourselves. In my first parish I had three churches. I remember how shocked I was as I went to my first communion service at the smallest church of eight members. When I arrived there was a loaf of sliced “Wonder” bread still in its wrapper on the altar and a bottle of Welch’s grape juice and some small paper cups. They had not had communion in years. I was soon to find out why.
I went through the ritual and opened the altar for people to partake and NOBODY came forward. The reason they hadn’t had communion in years is that they were afraid. They knew full well that they were not living as consistent Christians. They felt too unworthy to come to the Table. I quickly switched sermons and preached on grace. Still nobody came up, but by the time I left there five years later, many did. Those few moved from guilt to grace, judging to acceptance. They found real communion with Jesus, a sacrament indeed.
Dentist Thomas Welch found himself in a somewhat similar situation back in 1869. Communion was problematic for a number of reasons. The alcoholic content of the wine was one of them. Dr. Welch was the Communion Steward for the congregation of First Methodist Church of Vineland, New Jersey. To his dismay, more often than not, communion either set some of the participants off on an alcoholic binge or on a rush to judgment by the abstention crowd. He and his family did experiment after experiment to come up with a solution and they did. He created unfermented grape juice, dubbed it “unfermented wine,” and soon churches all around wanted the product. By 1890 “Dr. Welch’s Grape Juice” had become a staple on communion tables, where it remains so today, all because someone saw communion as a sacrament that brought Christians together, not divided them!
Jesus
Jeremiah 18: 1-6
Romans 12: 1-2
John 1: 1-14
Jesus
We used to do a lot of camping when our kids were young. We started with a tent, and spent a lot of nights with that tent, and lots of campfires. Nowadays campers often have motor homes. A motor home allows campers to put all the conveniences of home on wheels. A camper no longer needs to contend with sleeping in a sleeping bag, cooking over a fire, or hauling water from a stream. Now he can park a fully equipped home on a cement slab in the midst of a few pine trees and hook up to a water line, a sewer line and electricity. Most motor homes even have a satellite dish attached on top. No more bother with dirt, no more smoke from the fire, no more drudgery of walking to the stream. Now it is possible to go camping and never have to go outside. People buy a motor home with the hope of seeing new places, of getting out into the world of nature. Yet they deck it out with the same furnishings as in their living room back home. They may drive to a new place, set themselves in new surrounding, but the newness goes unnoticed, because they only carried along their old setting. Nothing really changes.
If we accept the love God offers us, things do change—we change. But God does not change, nor does Jesus and his message. That message is timeless, and applies to us as it did to those who heard him 2000 years ago.
If Jesus is to be anything more than just another name, another historical mythic figure for us; if he is to become in any sense "Christ," "Savior," "Lord"; if his name and his story are to arouse in us anything like "faith," then we have to encounter him and not merely some ideas about him. Before there were ideas about Jesus there was Jesus. There was the Jesus who was experienced as a real person by those to whom he preached, those he healed, those with whom he lived, and those whom he angered.
We all have images of Jesus. We see artists’ renditions of him from the time we are small children, and it is our human nature to have an image of Jesus in our minds when we think or speak of him—just as we have an image of another person in our minds when we think or speak of that person. When you talk about a friend or a family member, you “see” that person in your mind. As children, or as new Christians, to the pictures—the visual images--we have of Jesus we attach what we learn about his personality, what we come to believe and feel about him. Just as we do about people around us.
Our faith needs more than reading or ideas about Jesus. And our faith needs more than artist’s renderings of their ideas about Jesus. We need in a real sense to experience him as a real presence in our lives. Our minds want to—need to—“see” the person about whom we are thinking or talking. There are four images of the Christ at work these days which seem to me to cause problems, or at least detract from the good that might come from seeking more closely an experience of Jesus as he truly is.
The first is the “Divine Jesus”. In this image the primary feature of the Christ is his absolute distinction from us: We are finite; Jesus is infinite. We are sinful; Jesus was sinless. We are mortal; Jesus, though he assumed mortality, was really always immortal. This image sees Jesus as one who stoops down momentarily from his throne to deliver us from our sinful condition: In this image the world is a sinful place, a place from which we should try to separate ourselves. In this image we must rise above the rest of the world. For too many, this Jesus is too perfect, and too removed from their lives for them to see him as their friend. This image fails to see Jesus’ very real, recognizable humanity. Jesus did not separate himself or his disciples from the world. He became immersed in the world, sat down and ate with all kinds of people whom the church leaders of his day despised. Jesus lived as we do. He felt heat and cold, fear and sorrow and happiness, confusion and doubt, hunger and thirst and pain just as intensely as any of us have or ever will. He did not come merely to rescue us from our humanness, he came to share it with us and with us change the world.
The second image that causes problems is “the conquering Jesus”. While he was alive, many people, including some of his own disciples, wanted Jesus to be a conqueror, to overthrow Roman rule. Over the years many more have created a picture of Jesus as conqueror who would overthrow the Roman powerful oppressors. There is the title King of Kings. This image forgets the Jesus who said “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God”, and the Jesus who commanded us to love our enemies, and to love one another “as I have loved you.” If conquering can ever be associated legitimately with Jesus Christ, then we had better be clear that at the top of the list of what must be conquered is our own tendency to rebel against God, and our tendency to want to create him in OUR image.
The third image I think we need to be careful of is the image of “ the judgmental Jesus.” Somehow, the old hellfire and brimstone theology of our puritan past has never quite disappeared, and today the picture of Christ as an impartial or even a vindictive judge has again found its way amongst impressive numbers of Christians. Individuals have frequently suffered under the impossible moral demands of those whose "Jesus" is all law and no gospel. No one familiar with the Scriptures can dispense with the thought of divine judgment. But when religious speakers determine that judgment is its own end and not a means to something else, they have altogether forgotten the Jesus who came, not to destroy, but to give life more abundantly. John 3:17 says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
The fourth image of Jesus that can cause problems is that of the “accepting Jesus”. God’s love cares about the real condition of each of us; and if we are in fact a distortion of the person that we could be, then the only role that true love can have in our lives is the role of bringing truth and the intention to change. Yes, God first accepts us as we are. We do not earn his love. As soon as we turn to him—every time we turn to him in repentance-- he accepts us as we are at that moment. But that does not mean that Jesus likes me, accepts me, and then makes no great demands upon me. If I accept his love I am going to find myself changing, and God is going to use me to change the world around me.
But God doesn’t just love us as individuals. God loves his whole world—his creation. Jesus is God’s pledge of love not just for us as individuals, but for the whole world. Jesus who accepts us just as we are is not ready to keep us that way. Nor is he ready to accept the world, our world, and keep it this way. If we can trust any of the illustrations of God’s love for the world we must conclude that this love, far from accepting the status quo, wills to alter it drastically.
I believe the real image we should have of Jesus is as “the transforming Christ”. The image we should have of Jesus is of someone who accepts us but through his love wants to continue God’s creativity by changing us and then the world around us.
Instead of the divine Jesus who would keep us away from the world, we should see a Jesus who wants us very much involved with the world, just as he was. Instead of the conquering Jesus, the transforming Jesus doesn’t ask us to take over the world but to befriend it, person by person. Look at how friendless the world is today--how much in need the world around us is of transformation through God’s love.
Instead of the judging Jesus, we should see Christ as one who recruits reconcilers and stewards and poets of creation. Instead of simply “the accepting Jesus we should see a Jesus who calls us to responsibilities we would never dream of undertaking otherwise. Through his acceptance of us we are not to accept the violence, injustice, inequality, and degradation of the world around us: that is discipleship today. Through our acceptance of him, we become God’s hands and mouths in the world to bring God’s creative changes.
There is only one thing the church has to offer the world that no other organization can offer: Christ It is Jesus the Christ who transforms us. Jesus the Christ who loves us. Jesus the Christ who accepts us as we are when we repent of our past. But if we accept and love Jesus he will transform us, so that through us God’s love can work to transform the world. Amen
Romans 12: 1-2
John 1: 1-14
Jesus
We used to do a lot of camping when our kids were young. We started with a tent, and spent a lot of nights with that tent, and lots of campfires. Nowadays campers often have motor homes. A motor home allows campers to put all the conveniences of home on wheels. A camper no longer needs to contend with sleeping in a sleeping bag, cooking over a fire, or hauling water from a stream. Now he can park a fully equipped home on a cement slab in the midst of a few pine trees and hook up to a water line, a sewer line and electricity. Most motor homes even have a satellite dish attached on top. No more bother with dirt, no more smoke from the fire, no more drudgery of walking to the stream. Now it is possible to go camping and never have to go outside. People buy a motor home with the hope of seeing new places, of getting out into the world of nature. Yet they deck it out with the same furnishings as in their living room back home. They may drive to a new place, set themselves in new surrounding, but the newness goes unnoticed, because they only carried along their old setting. Nothing really changes.
If we accept the love God offers us, things do change—we change. But God does not change, nor does Jesus and his message. That message is timeless, and applies to us as it did to those who heard him 2000 years ago.
If Jesus is to be anything more than just another name, another historical mythic figure for us; if he is to become in any sense "Christ," "Savior," "Lord"; if his name and his story are to arouse in us anything like "faith," then we have to encounter him and not merely some ideas about him. Before there were ideas about Jesus there was Jesus. There was the Jesus who was experienced as a real person by those to whom he preached, those he healed, those with whom he lived, and those whom he angered.
We all have images of Jesus. We see artists’ renditions of him from the time we are small children, and it is our human nature to have an image of Jesus in our minds when we think or speak of him—just as we have an image of another person in our minds when we think or speak of that person. When you talk about a friend or a family member, you “see” that person in your mind. As children, or as new Christians, to the pictures—the visual images--we have of Jesus we attach what we learn about his personality, what we come to believe and feel about him. Just as we do about people around us.
Our faith needs more than reading or ideas about Jesus. And our faith needs more than artist’s renderings of their ideas about Jesus. We need in a real sense to experience him as a real presence in our lives. Our minds want to—need to—“see” the person about whom we are thinking or talking. There are four images of the Christ at work these days which seem to me to cause problems, or at least detract from the good that might come from seeking more closely an experience of Jesus as he truly is.
The first is the “Divine Jesus”. In this image the primary feature of the Christ is his absolute distinction from us: We are finite; Jesus is infinite. We are sinful; Jesus was sinless. We are mortal; Jesus, though he assumed mortality, was really always immortal. This image sees Jesus as one who stoops down momentarily from his throne to deliver us from our sinful condition: In this image the world is a sinful place, a place from which we should try to separate ourselves. In this image we must rise above the rest of the world. For too many, this Jesus is too perfect, and too removed from their lives for them to see him as their friend. This image fails to see Jesus’ very real, recognizable humanity. Jesus did not separate himself or his disciples from the world. He became immersed in the world, sat down and ate with all kinds of people whom the church leaders of his day despised. Jesus lived as we do. He felt heat and cold, fear and sorrow and happiness, confusion and doubt, hunger and thirst and pain just as intensely as any of us have or ever will. He did not come merely to rescue us from our humanness, he came to share it with us and with us change the world.
The second image that causes problems is “the conquering Jesus”. While he was alive, many people, including some of his own disciples, wanted Jesus to be a conqueror, to overthrow Roman rule. Over the years many more have created a picture of Jesus as conqueror who would overthrow the Roman powerful oppressors. There is the title King of Kings. This image forgets the Jesus who said “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God”, and the Jesus who commanded us to love our enemies, and to love one another “as I have loved you.” If conquering can ever be associated legitimately with Jesus Christ, then we had better be clear that at the top of the list of what must be conquered is our own tendency to rebel against God, and our tendency to want to create him in OUR image.
The third image I think we need to be careful of is the image of “ the judgmental Jesus.” Somehow, the old hellfire and brimstone theology of our puritan past has never quite disappeared, and today the picture of Christ as an impartial or even a vindictive judge has again found its way amongst impressive numbers of Christians. Individuals have frequently suffered under the impossible moral demands of those whose "Jesus" is all law and no gospel. No one familiar with the Scriptures can dispense with the thought of divine judgment. But when religious speakers determine that judgment is its own end and not a means to something else, they have altogether forgotten the Jesus who came, not to destroy, but to give life more abundantly. John 3:17 says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
The fourth image of Jesus that can cause problems is that of the “accepting Jesus”. God’s love cares about the real condition of each of us; and if we are in fact a distortion of the person that we could be, then the only role that true love can have in our lives is the role of bringing truth and the intention to change. Yes, God first accepts us as we are. We do not earn his love. As soon as we turn to him—every time we turn to him in repentance-- he accepts us as we are at that moment. But that does not mean that Jesus likes me, accepts me, and then makes no great demands upon me. If I accept his love I am going to find myself changing, and God is going to use me to change the world around me.
But God doesn’t just love us as individuals. God loves his whole world—his creation. Jesus is God’s pledge of love not just for us as individuals, but for the whole world. Jesus who accepts us just as we are is not ready to keep us that way. Nor is he ready to accept the world, our world, and keep it this way. If we can trust any of the illustrations of God’s love for the world we must conclude that this love, far from accepting the status quo, wills to alter it drastically.
I believe the real image we should have of Jesus is as “the transforming Christ”. The image we should have of Jesus is of someone who accepts us but through his love wants to continue God’s creativity by changing us and then the world around us.
Instead of the divine Jesus who would keep us away from the world, we should see a Jesus who wants us very much involved with the world, just as he was. Instead of the conquering Jesus, the transforming Jesus doesn’t ask us to take over the world but to befriend it, person by person. Look at how friendless the world is today--how much in need the world around us is of transformation through God’s love.
Instead of the judging Jesus, we should see Christ as one who recruits reconcilers and stewards and poets of creation. Instead of simply “the accepting Jesus we should see a Jesus who calls us to responsibilities we would never dream of undertaking otherwise. Through his acceptance of us we are not to accept the violence, injustice, inequality, and degradation of the world around us: that is discipleship today. Through our acceptance of him, we become God’s hands and mouths in the world to bring God’s creative changes.
There is only one thing the church has to offer the world that no other organization can offer: Christ It is Jesus the Christ who transforms us. Jesus the Christ who loves us. Jesus the Christ who accepts us as we are when we repent of our past. But if we accept and love Jesus he will transform us, so that through us God’s love can work to transform the world. Amen
Grace
Jeremiah 1: 4-9
Romans 5: 6-11
Matthew 18: 1-6; 19: 13-15
Grace
During a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world debated what, if any, belief was unique to the Christian faith. They began eliminating various possibilities. Incarnation? Other religions had different versions of gods appearing in human form. Resurrection? Again, other religions had accounts of return from death.
The debate went on for some time until C. S. Lewis wandered into the room. "What is the rumpus all about?", he asked, and heard in reply that his colleagues were discussing Christianity’s unique contribution among world religions. Lewis responded, "Oh, that is easy. It is grace." It is all about grace.
A story is told about Fiorello LaGuardia, who was mayor of New York City during the worst days of the Great Depression and all of World War II. He was a colorful character who used to ride the New Your City fire trucks, raid speakeasies with the police department, take entire orphanages to baseball games, and whenever the New York newspapers were on strike, he would go on the radio and read the Sunday funnies to the kids. One bitterly cold night in January of 1935, the mayor turned up at a night court in an area that served the poorest ward in the city. LaGuardia had dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench himself. Within a few minutes, a tattered old woman was brought before him, charged with stealing a loaf of bread.
She told LaGuardia that her daughter’s husband had deserted her, her daughter was sick, and her two grandchildren were starving. But the shopkeeper, from whom the bread was stolen, refused to drop the charges. The shopkeeper told the mayor that it was a real bad neighborhood. She had to be punished to teach others around there a lesson.
LaGuardia sighed. He turned to the woman and said,”I have got to punish you. The law makes no exceptions. Ten dollars or ten days in jail.” But even as he pronounced sentence, the mayor was already reaching into his pocket. He extracted a bill and tossed it into his hat saying, “Here is the ten dollar fine which I now remit; and furthermore I am going to fine everyone in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat. Bailiff, collect the fines and give them to the defendant.”
A total of $47.50 was turned over to a bewildered old lady who had stolen a loaf of bread to feed her starving grandchildren. Fifty cents of that amount was contributed by the red-faced grocery store owner.
Did the elderly lady in the story get what she deserved? Clearly the answer is, of course not. She had stolen a loaf of bread. Yes, she may have had a reason, but stealing is stealing and regardless of the reason, punishment would seem to be the order of the day. To us, seeing it as the grocery man saw it, it isn’t fair.
What we see in the story is called grace. Grace is when someone in superior power shows kindness or mercy to someone in a lesser position. Mayor LaGuardia, with all his power, showed mercy and rather than demanding punishment of the woman herself, paid the fine and then further helped her cause by the collection of the fifty-cent fines and giving the money to her. It was more than she deserved. It was grace. It is all about grace.
Children are very accepting and trusting. Unless they have been taught differently, or have been hurt or abused, children accept others openly and non-judgmentally. The disciples wanted to know who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. It was a judgmental question. It was a question of who is better than others. It is the kind of thinking we are too often guilty of. Jesus’ reply was not just about accepting children, it was to tell us that unless we are childlike, considering ourselves no better than anyone else in God’s sight, we will find ourselves in deep trouble. Today and everyday God wants a relationship with everyone, including those we too often choose to avoid, or judge to be somehow inferior to us.
Jesus put his finger on this when he urged the adults of his day to have a simple, childlike faith. In fact, he made it clear that unless we become as little children, with the transparency of trust that marks the life of a child, we cannot see the Kingdom of Heaven. We cannot understand the Gospel. This is the Good News of God's gift to us. His grace is the story of his unmerited favor. The Gospel is as simple as that—it is childishly simple.. God is love, and we are to love others as he loves us.
Every person is a child of God. Every person has worth in God’s eyes, and God wants each and every person in his kingdom. Every person has a God given purpose. We are called to try our best to help people see God’s love so they can accept God’s grace and fulfill God’s purpose. We are not to judge, and we are not to hinder anyone from coming into God’s presence because we are judgmental. Grace is received, not deserved.
For all of us who are people of faith, we know that we do not deserve God’s grace. Nothing that we can do will put us in a position of deserving God’s grace. All we can do is receive the gift that God offers to us freely. God loves us and mercifully gives us more than we deserve. Grace is received, not deserved.
God’s grace is about mercy, not fairness. God’s grace is there for the last, the lost, the least, including us. God’s grace is given to those who accept it with childlike faith. “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” That is what Grace is all about.
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