Doing good or feeling good?

Doing good or feeling good? Brian Sheetz | March 28, 2011 at 8:00 AM | Categories: Church Finance, Church Leadership | URL: http://wp.me/pR0Nv-96

Do you know Tom's Shoes? It's a shoe company that was started about five years ago. Yes, they're sold at Nordstrom's and yes, they're overpriced. But that's where Tom's and most designers separate. Tom's One for One program gives away a pair of shoes for every pair that is sold. But it's not like a Black Friday half off deal at your local mall. If you buy a pair of Tom's, the other pair goes to someone in a developing country who is without shoes. Many children receive their first-even pair of shoes from a Tom's "Shoe Drop."

I got to hear Tom's Founder Blake Mycoskie tell his story a week ago. He was involved in a small way with a shoe drive in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He and other volunteers would solicit used shoes from the wealthy folks in town then drive to the rural areas and distribute them. An Argentinian local asked what would happen the next time the kids needed shoes. After all, they would outgrow them in a year or two. At that point Blake asked himself if they were truly doing good or were they just making themselves feel good. The entire audience, some 4,000 fund-raising professionals, all said "wow."

It was after that conversation that Blake decided that just giving away used shoes wasn't a solution. He needed a way to provide lots and lots of shoes to people who needed them. Now, some five years later, Tom's has given away more than a million pairs of shoes.

I think this is the key question we should be asking about our missions and outreach work. When we drop that nasty can of pickled herring in the canned food drive do we really think we're helping? Or are we just making ourselves feel better and making a little more room in the pantry for food we really want?

I think one of the keys is the depth of involvement. What Blake experienced in Buenos Aires was a "hit and run" mission project. These volunteers flew in for three days, collected and distributed some shoes and flew home.

Tom's has a long-term commitment to the problem. Tom's shoes are made in these developing countries, providing employment without the exploitation that many shoe companies have over their employees.
How many of our mission projects are of the same "hit and run" approach? A few members of our church give an hour or two on Saturday, we announce it on Sunday morning and we all feel good.

What need is there in your community that your church could devote a thousand volunteer hours to in the next year? What is a mission model that lets the kids, the young adults, the seniors and the physically challenged in your congregation to be involved?

What problem can you provide leadership to solving rather than just being part of a "me too" afternoon?
Blake had nothing bad to say about the women he encountered on his first shoe project and I'm not bashing any mission work that a church does. I'm just inviting you to dig deeper and make sure that what you're doing is truly doing good, rather than just feeling good.

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Risk

Job 13: 13-15

Philippians 2: 25-30

John 3: 1-17

Risk

For years, the opening of "The Wide World of Sports" television program illustrated "the agony of defeat" with a painful ending to an attempted ski jump. The skier appeared in good form as he headed down the jump, but then, for no apparent reason, he tumbled head over heels off the side of the jump, bouncing off the supporting structure down to the snow below.

What viewers didn't know was that he chose to fall rather than finish the jump. Why? As he explained later, the jump surface had become too fast, and midway down the ramp, he realized if he completed the jump, he would land on the level ground, beyond the safe sloping landing area, which could have been fatal. Surprisingly, the skier suffered no more than a headache from the tumble. To change one's course in life can be terribly risky, a dramatic and sometimes painful undertaking, but change is better than a fatal landing at the end.

This is the problem Nicodemus is having. Jesus tells Nicodemus that he is facing a fatal landing if he does not change directions. But Nicodemus knows only one way and that is the way of earth. It is the only way that any of us knows. Suddenly Jesus appears on the scene and begins speaking of Heaven, of being Born Again. Nicodemus hears the words "You must be born again," but he is confused. So he asks, "How can a person go back into his mother's womb and come out again?"

It is surprising to us that Nicodemus is so confused. He's a religious leader and should understand spiritual lessons but somehow he feels he has missed some crucial truth. And, there is a reason he is going to Jesus. He has an inkling that Jesus might be able to provide that missing important detail. Nicodemus has somehow been headed in the wrong direction and now he must change his course. This he knows but Nicodemus seems hesitant. He seems uncertain about making such a drastic change. Why? What makes this remarkable man slow to take Jesus at his word? What is confusing him?

Nicodemus was an educated man, one of the Pharisees who were devoutly religious and held positions of authority in the community. To them Jesus, who after all came out of the backwater province of Galilee and an even more backwater town of Nazareth, was an illiterate trouble maker, threatening not only their understanding of scriptures, but also threatening their security and the stability of their country.

But, I think what was bothering Nicodemus the most was his reluctance to take a risk. First he knew if he was seen by any of his fellow Pharisees he would be ostracized. His reputation would be damaged, and he might lose his place in his society, and he might lose all his friends. He might be able to come up with an excuse for his visit that would save some face, but certainly, if he became a follower of Jesus his life itself would be at risk.

Nicodemus took a huge risk in his secret night time visit to see Jesus, but risks are sometimes necessary for growth and change. Alex Haley, the author of "Roots," said this about taking risks, "Nothing is more important. Too often we are taught how not to take risks. When we are children in school...we are told to respect our heroes.... What we are not told is that these leaders...were in fact rule-breakers. They were risk-takers in the best sense of the word; they dared to be different" The signers of our Declaration of Independence were rule breakers who took terrible risks. They were men of stature with much to lose, and most of them paid a dear price for signing that document. Abraham Lincoln made many risky decisions during the Civil War, and died as a result. All through Scripture, and all through Christian history, people have taken great risks, making it possible for us to be here today.

In the Hebrew scripture we read earlier, Job was tired of hearing his friends analyze his problems. He wanted to confront God directly, to defend himself even if it meant death.  In the letter Paul wrote to the Philippians he points out that his good friend took great risk and nearly died to help Paul. All through scriptures you read of people taking risks to be obedient to God.

Jesus himself made it clear to all his followers that if they wanted to continue to be his followers, they would have to be willing to take risks, perhaps the risk of their lives. He makes it clear to us that to be his followers we have to take risks too, to reach out to those who might reject us, or think us strange.

Father Henri Nouwen, a Catholic author whose 40 plus books on spirituality are excellent reading,  reflected  on the story of Nicodemus, and wrote, "I love Jesus but want to hold on to my own friends even when they do not lead me closer to Jesus. I love Jesus but want to hold on to my own independence even when that independence brings me no real freedom. I love Jesus but do not want to lose the respect of my professional colleagues, even though I know that their respect does not make me grow spiritually. I love Jesus but do not want to give up my writing plans, travel plans, and speaking plans, even when these plans are often more to my glory that to the glory of God."

Upon reflection Father Nouwen realizes that he isn't all that different from Nicodemus. He writes, "So I am like Nicodemus, who came by night, and then said safe things about Jesus to his colleagues."

The baseball manager Leo Durocher was once asked who was the all-time favorite player he had coached. Lots of people were shocked when he named Dusty Rhodes. Rhodes was a little known pinch hitter, not a really big name player. Durocher was asked, "What was so special about Dusty Rhodes?" He replied, "In a tight game when I looked down the bench for a pinch hitter, most players would avert their gaze and refuse to look in my direction. But Dusty Rhodes would look me right in the eye, smile, and tap on his bat." He was always available.

New birth is more likely to happen to persons who take the risk and make themselves totally available to God. There's an element of Nicodemus in all of us. It's always easier to play it safe and keep Jesus off in the distance than to take the risk and accept him as the Lord of our life. We need to know, however, that we cannot always put him off.

The bottom-line is that risk-taking is the only road to success. Venture capitalists take big risks, because it is the only way to make great gains. They are calculated risks, but risks nonetheless. They do their homework, study the situation, and consider the potential gains. And the same is true for people of real faith. Only unlike venture capitalists, we are promised by God that by accepting Christ as both Savior and Lord we will have the reward of eternal life.

How much faith does it take to follow? That's the crux of the discussion between Jesus and Nicodemus. How much risk are we willing to take?

Bishops' Letter regarding US Budget cuts

March 1, 2011

Dear Members of Congress:

Our witness as faith leaders is grounded in love for God and neighbor and all Creation. Accordingly, we are compelled to speak out against the proposed deep cuts in FY2011 discretionary domestic and poverty-focused foreign aid spending. Jesus challenged people to define themselves by the measure of their love for one another, with particular concern for those struggling in poverty and marginalized by society. His Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) transforms and broadens our definition of the neighbor and lifts up a model of relationship with our neighbors that should define and sustain our community, national and international life.

Love acknowledges our interdependence and our responsibility for the future. None of us can prosper and be secure while some of us live in misery and desperation. In an interdependent world, the security and prosperity of any nation is inseparable from that of even the most vulnerable both within and beyond their borders. Our churches remain fully committed to our anti-poverty ministries in the U.S. and around the world. But we also know from this hard-won experience that similarly, our nation must remain committed to providing attention to and opportunity for poor and vulnerable people.

Discretionary programs that serve the poor and vulnerable are a very small percentage of the budget, and they are not the drivers of the deficits. Unchecked increases in military spending combined with vast tax cuts helped create our country’s financial difficulties and restoring financial soundness requires addressing these root imbalances. We share your concerns over long-term deficits and urge you to find just solutions that will protect future generations both from a legacy of debt and a legacy of poverty and underinvestment. Cutting discretionary programs is not a just solution. These cuts will devastate those living in poverty, at home and around the world, cost jobs, and in the long run, will harm, not help, our fiscal situation. While “shared sacrifice” can be an appropriate banner, those who would be devastated by these cuts have nothing left to sacrifice.

We find ourselves at a moment of crisis and decision. In the midst of sobering financial challenges, our faith compels us to advance toward a better world for ourselves and our neighbors and not turn away from our brothers and sisters in need. We are compelled by our faith in the living Christ to seek a world where hunger and poverty are a distant memory, and where children around the world grow up with equal opportunities for success. We are called by God, who declared this Creation good, to seek a world of health in our air, water, and biodiversity. We are called by Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, to build a world where we live in community with one another, caring for those experiencing conflict, aiding those in the midst of natural disasters and dealing with the impacts of climate change, and where we seek things that build a world of just peace. As God is Creator and Sustainer of all, this is a not just a vision for those in our churches, but a witness our faith compels us to proclaim for all the world.

The unprecedented and dangerous cuts to discretionary domestic programs and poverty-focused foreign assistance will jeopardize the lives and well-being of millions now and into the future. These deep and unwise spending cuts are a betrayal of our call to love our neighbor. Our faith points our nation to “a more excellent way” (1 Cor. 12:31) that bears one another’s burdens, acknowledges our interdependence, and compels sacrifice and love for our neighbors in need. We therefore urge you to reject proposed cuts that would undermine domestic and international efforts to help those who are struggling to overcome poverty.
Sincerely,

Rev. Donald H. Ashmall, Council Minister International Council of Community Churches
Dr. Carroll A. Baltimore, Sr., President Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.
Rev. Geoffrey A. Black, General Minister and President United Church of Christ
Bishop Larry M. Goodpaster, President, Council of Bishops United Methodist Church
Rev. Mark S. Hanson, Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Rev. M. Linda Jaramillo, Executive Minister United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries
The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop and Primate The Episcopal Church
Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary National Council of Churches USA Arthur M. Larrabee, General Secretary
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends Bishop Chuck Leigh, President Apostolic Catholic Church
Rev. John L. McCullough Executive Director and CEO, Church World Service
Roy Medley, General Secretary American Baptist Churches USA
Stanley J. Noffsinger, General Secretary
Church of the Brethren
Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly Presbyterian Church USA
Stephen M. Veazey, President Community of Christ
Dr. Sharon E. Watkins, General Minister and President Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada

New mission can rejuvenate churches

New mission can rejuvenate churches

Fourth in a series: Another important transition churches face can be a change in mission – either because the neighborhood around the church has changed or because the church follows a new vision.

A UMNS Report
By Vicki Brown*

1:00 P.M. EST March 16, 2011

When the youth at St. John’s United Methodist Church in Davenport, Iowa, walked seven times around an empty building that had once held a furniture store and prayed for a skateboard ministry, church member Bill Porter said he couldn’t see how the church could afford it. “The kids thought anything was possible,” Porter said. Turned out they were right. Pennie Kellenberger, now director of The Center, which houses SkateChurch and other ministries, said teenagers from the neighborhood who were hanging out in the church parking lot were nervous about going inside St. John’s.

After the youth group went on a mission trip to Nashville, Tenn., and visited Rocketown, an urban ministry with an indoor skate park, stages and a coffee shop, they became interested in skate ministry. Kellenberger’s husband built a skate ramp that they sat up in the parking lot. “We started with one ramp and a cooler full of soft drinks,” she said.

Eventually, more teens were in the parking lot than in the chapel, and the youth group decided it wanted to launch a full-fledged skate ministry. When the owner of the vacant furniture store lowered the asking price, a donor stepped forward and bought the building for the church. Now, in addition to SkateChurch, the building houses a thrift store, food pantry, coffee shop and a foundation that helps court-assigned youth earn their GED certificate.

“It’s so obvious God had a direct hand in it,” Porter said. A charity thrift store and a food pantry operated by other churches both lost leases and moved into the building St. John’s had bought “People stepped up,” Porter added. “Everything kind of fell into place.

“It’s a mission to reach kids who wouldn’t otherwise have a church experience, and that has happened. If they use the center, they have 15 to 30 minutes of hearing the gospel every time they go,” Porter said. The ministry hasn’t yet resulted in large numbers of youth who use the center attending St. John’s, but Kellenberger said the SkateChurch has really become a church for the teens that use it. “They are hearing the gospel, not just in the message, but in how we behave.”

Kellenberger said the ministry has helped St. John’s members “see outside of themselves. They rally around it because it’s something bigger than who they are.”

‘Old model’ no longer works

Mission outside the church itself is one of the key indicators of a healthy congregation, said the Rev. Randy Cross of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry. “The parish is not just inside the church walls,” he said. “That’s why it’s so important for churches to continually review their vision.”

In addition to SkateChurch, the church’s outreach ministry includes a thrift store, food pantry, coffee shop and a foundation that helps court-assigned youth get their GED certificates. The Rev. Tina Carter, pastor of Parker Lane United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas, believes the old model of the people in the pews paying for the mission work of the church no longer works for every congregation.

Parker Lane was one of 11 churches in the Ecclesiastes Project in the Austin District of the Southwest Texas Annual (regional) Conference. The project engaged downtown Austin churches with fewer than 125 in average worship attendance or which had compelling financial or facility concerns. They participated in a sustainability assessment with an eye toward new life through merger, relocation, partnerships or other creative paths.

“The culture of this church has always been, ‘Let’s start doing what we want to do,’” Carter said. But she added that when she arrived as pastor and the church became part of the Ecclesiastes Project, it was evident that members were weary. The project provided resources to her and the lay leadership to assess the church property – several buildings on seven acres in the heart of the city. “The Ecclesiastes Project allowed us to have frank conversations about where we are in worship attendance and where we were going,” Carter said.

Now, Parker Lane provides space for a free health clinic, a food pantry, a thrift store, an after-school program and mental health counseling. The congregation provides most of these ministries through partnerships.

“We are continuing to see a decrease in worship attendance, but we very much have an increase in the number of humans who are going through the campus,” Carter said. “We are starting to be known as the church that cares. Our story is getting out, and it’s a powerful message.” For instance, Carter said that in 2010, the church had 135 giving units, up from 85 the year before. “Not all were members. Some gave and stayed home, some gave from far away, and some have joined and are learning about the church. Many gave $500 or less,” she said. “One person who lives far below the poverty level gave every week. She gave a total of $285.”

She is encouraged. Carter says younger people want to do something that matters and unchurched people who come to Parker Lane through one of the ministries are beginning to see that “there is something attractive about church.” “Our next step this year is to begin to imagine how this church is going to be sustainable,” Carter said

.

*Brown is associate editor and writer, Office of Interpretation, United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry, Nashville, Tenn.

News media contact: Joey Butler, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

Trading

Isaiah 41:8-10

Ephesians 4: 22-24

John 17: 20-26

Trading

For awhile on cable TV there was a show called TRADING SPACES. I don’t know if it is still on or not, but the premise is, people agree to let their family or friends or neighbors come in and redecorate a room in their home, while they do the same to the other person’s house. Needless to say, it can get quite interesting with some of the things they come up with. Sometimes things get really messed up and the people aren’t happy. Other times, the rooms were in desperate need for a facelift and it helped a great deal.

Trading is about exchanging one thing for another. We all go through life, every day, making exchanges, making trades. Sometimes we trade paper called money for objects, or services. Other times we trade one object for another—like an old car for a newer one.  But we make other kinds of trades or exchanges too.

Women have this thing about getting bored with their appearance. Their hair, their clothing. Whatever. They feel the need to reinvent themselves every so often or they die from boredom. Guys on the other hand don’t care. I have worn my beard the same way for ages, and my hair this way for over a decade.  Some might consider that stale. I like to think of it as consistent.

Anyway, when a woman wants a new look, without too much expense, she goes into a salon, and often takes a picture with her. “I want to look like her.” Now in some cases, you know the stylist is thinking something like, “Girl, it would take a lot more talent than I have to make you look like that!” But there’s an image out there that they’re shooting for. They want to trade the way they look now, for a new image. But that kind of trade doesn’t change the reality of who they are.

Think about it. You were born male or female, and it is very hard and very expensive to trade that. You were born with a particular skin pigmentation, and you can’t trade those for anything different. You can’t trade the genetics of whether or not you’ll be bald, be tall, or have a ski-sloped nose. You can’t trade any of those kinds of things.

But you can trade behaviors. Many of Paul’s friends did. He wrote in his letters that they had. Some in this room have done the same.

For many people, Lent is about giving something up. Some people give up chocolate. Some may try to give up smoking. Some may go on a diet. But usually, they try to give those things up during Lent, and then go back to the way things were before once Easter is over. I don’t think God wants to just try giving things up.  I think God would rather see Lent as a time to make trades. It is a time during which we are called upon to reflect on who we are in the sight of God, and trade our way of living our life for guidance from Christ, who then will over time, change us, and help us trade our old way of living for a new one.

Psychologist’s often tell us that to trade one old habit for a new one, it takes about 6 weeks. You have to work hard at trading the behaviors, but if you do, if you persevere, you will likely make the change. Interestingly enough, that is the length of time Jesus spent in the wilderness, trading his old way of living as a carpenter for his new mission as God’s Son. Interestingly enough, that is the length of time for Lent. God is giving us just the right amount of time to trade our old way of living for his way of living.

Yesterday at the men’s breakfast we heard Kevin Gutberlet’s testimony about how he traded self focused behaviors, all directed toward what he knew, or at least thought he knew, were best for his car dealership, his employees, and his family. He had even exchanged the security of his 401K and his life savings for a couple more years of running his dealership. But one night he finally stopped telling God in his prayers what he thought he needed. He traded in his list of needs for what God wanted of him, and though he no longer has a dealership, he has a good job, is serving God as a pastor of a small church, and no longer has the stress that was there when he was doing his thing his way, as good as it was.

Anyone can change. What wonderful news. Anyone can change. But not without this truth: Change is your responsibility. All of our actions carry consequences. All of them. We trade our choice of behavior for consequences.  If we make good choices, there are good consequences. If we make bad choices, poor choices, the consequences are there, too. It is all up to us to trade our poor choices for better ones. If we allow God to guide our choices, the trades will all be good ones.

Jesus asks us to imagine trading places with our neighbors. Imagine some supernatural snap of the fingers which would trade places with your next door neighbor, your co-worker, your customer or client or patient. Imagine if you were the one trying to pay an overdue gas bill, or find a cheap way to fix your car so you could get to work at your 8 dollar an hour job.  Imagine if you were the one living in skin of a different color, suffering from HIV-AIDS, struggling to get a job, speaking English with a heavy accent, needing a ride to work, going through a divorce, frightened by the curse of a witch doctor, or simply ignorant of the love of God through Jesus Christ.

If you were her and she was you . . . if you and he traded places . . . how would you want to be treated? How would you like to be loved? Would you want someone to be kind to you? Would you like to get some financial help? Would you want to be told about forgiveness of sin and eternal life through Jesus? Would you want help finding a job? Would you be glad for some compassion and special attention?

We all know the answer to those questions. The answer is "of course!" Well, Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Christians are those who love their neighbors the way they love themselves. We are those who treat others the way we would want to be treated. We are called upon to trade our normal human inclinations for those of Jesus who extended God’s love to everyone, the least and the lost, the despised and the downtrodden.

Throughout the scriptures, Old and New Testaments, we find where God has asked people to make trades. Many times Jesus asked people to make trades, exchanges.  He asked the rich young man to trade his riches for a life journey with him. The rich young man turned away.  What are you willing to hang on to instead of trading it for a daily life following Christ?

When you give your life to Christ a great trade takes place. Jesus Christ trades places with you. He died for you on the cross. In that great transaction Christ took all your sins, guilt, punishment, rags and hung on the cross trading his life for you to have all that washed away. He traded his life to give you a new start in life and to give you life eternal, if you accept and obey him.  When you accept Christ as your Savior you receive His righteousness.

So what will you trade of your life for God’s love of you?

Provenance

 Ezekiel 36: 25-27

Ephesians 4: 12-25

Matthew 17:1-9

Provenance

The last couple of weeks have brought us hours of pictures from Tunisia, Egypt, Libya. Can any of us ever forget the images from Cairo's Tahrir Square? Or the monstrous Muammar al-Gaddafi, also known as Colonel Gaddafi, speaking to his people from the back seat of an automobile holding a white umbrella?

But the one that may stick the longest for me is the human ring of ordinary men and women standing guard around the Cairo Museum, making a barrier of bodies all the way around the perimeter of the building. Word had spread that the night before a small but clumsy gang of looters had broken into the museum, stealing some objects, stupidly destroying others.

A youthful crowd of protestors responded by rushing to protect the building and the priceless items it housed. Why did they do this? It is doubtful there were very many worshipers of Amon Ra or any of the other ancient Egyptian gods and pharaohs that those museum relics celebrate. So why did they protect the museum with their very bodies?

These Egyptian people did not rally around the museum simply because of the religious relics. They were protecting their own history, the stories and symbols of who they were as a people, of where they had been, and what they had done. They were guarding their historic identity. Every item in that museum had its own special "provenance," its own place in the story of their world. That provenance was the treasure they banded together to protect. The value of the relics was not just in the objects themselves, but in the history they reveal.

Provenance is a word that means "to come from". It means the origin, or the source of something, or the history of the ownership or location of an object.  We tend to protect what is most precious to us.

Any "Antiques Road Show" addicts here? Myrna and I watch it periodically, and I am amazed at times at what value is given for items I consider ugly and would discard out of ignorance. What is it that gives an object its value? Why does one item I might see as ugly have a value of thousands and another much more beautiful item is said to be worth just a few dollars. If you've ever seen just one episode, you know that it is the "provenance," the verifiable stories of the persons who interacted with the items brought in, that makes an item valuable or a possession priceless. A Civil War era rifle has value as an antique, and it has a little more if it is an item actually used in that particular war. But a Civil War rifle that is known to have been in the hands of a general who was part of the battle of Gettysburg would have far more value. That's called "provenance”.  With "provenance" an item that was relatively common when first made becomes valuable.

This week's gospel text is Matthew's version of a pivotal "transfiguration" event that marks the beginning of a new phase in Jesus' mission and ministry that gave increased provenance to that mission. But that event also gave increased provenance to the faith of Peter, James, and John. It had such provenance to Peter that he was going to build shelters so that the whole experience could be preserved and protected. He didn’t want to come down off the mountain. But Jesus led them back down from the valley to begin their journey anew, back into the everyday world.  

Have you ever had a “mountain top experience” with your faith?  An experience so awesome, so moving, so life changing it was hard to fully comprehend at the time?  Or have you ever had an experience that has changed you into someone very different than you were before? An experience that gave your faith provenance, as the source of, or the real origin of your faith, or as an experience that gave greater value and adds significantly to your life of faith?

A young woman made an announcement one morning to her co-workers, "My honeymoon is over and I am so relieved. Now we can get on with our marriage." She was not saying the honeymoon was awful. Undoubtedly it was wonderful, and certainly life changing. But I suspect it was also very busy, very intense, very different from their normal lives. I have heard people say they were glad to be home from a good vacation as well, even joking that they were glad to go back to work so they could rest up. That's the way it is with our mountaintop experiences. We can't live there forever. The light is too bright, the pace maybe too frantic, and the experience simply too intense, too difference.

It is a relief to return to normal lives where we can be ourselves and let others be themselves, but that doesn't mean the honeymoon is forgotten or that change hasn’t happened. Just because we don't live on the mountain all the time doesn't mean we forget what happened on the mountain.  There is one thing all mountain top experiences have in common. They demand that we change. Those moments have something to say to us, to teach us. Those provenance moments change us irreversibly, and become the source of new life for us, giving our lives new value.

Mountain top experiences are transformative. Although we may come down from the high, we will never be quite the same. And if we share our story with others, we can keep the new life fresh and our lives will never fall back to where they were before.  We are changed.

I wonder though, in Matthew’s story, who really was changed? Did Jesus change? I don’t think so. He was before, and remained after, the Son of God. His mission did not change either. He began a new path, one leading to Jerusalem for the last time, and he began to speak more often and more clearly about what his future would bring. He revealed himself more clearly thereafter. The real change began in Peter, and John, and James. Their experience on that mountain top became part of their faith provenance, part of their new story with great value they would pass on to others as they shared the message of Christ.

Their initial relationship with Jesus gave the disciples provenance that helped spread Christianity throughout the world at their time. The experience of Peter, James and John on the mountain added to that provenance, that special value. The gospels are full of their special experiences with Jesus that added to the value of their story.  Every new experience you have with Christ adds to the value, the provenance, of your story. 

Most often those new experiences with Christ, the ones that lift you up toward the mountain top, come as you seek out opportunities to share God’s love with others through your actions, through doing the work God needs you to do in relationship with others.  That is how you add to your faith provenance.

So what is it that gives your life provenance? What is it that gets you going each day when you get out of bed? In what do you place your daily faith that directs your life and gives it value? Is it your job? Is it your family? Is it your hobbies? What is it that gives your life the most significance, and therefore the most provenance, the most lasting value? If it is not your experiences with the living Christ, then your faith is hollow and will have no provenance 100 years from now.

If you go to our nation’s capital, you can visit the National Archives and see the actual Declaration of Independence, the original document with the original signatures in the original ink. It is well protected. You can go to the National History Museum and see the actual flag flown over Baltimore harbor during the war of 1812, the flag that gave inspiration for our National Anthem.  It is well preserved and protected. We tend to protect those things most valuable to us.

But that Declaration of Independence would have no meaning if it had not been shared with others. You can get copies of it, read those copies—they are just copies but the words still have their full meaning. Students learn it in school. What gave the Declaration of Independence provenance was the fact that those words spread all across the colonies, and were read and heard and acted upon. Otherwise it would just be another piece of parchment with fading ink. It would have had no value whatsoever if it had been locked away and never spoken about or acted upon.

Likewise, your faith in Christ has no provenance unless it is shared. Your faith experiences are useless unless shared with others by the way you love, the actions you take, the words you say, to those who do not yet know Christ as their Savior and Lord. The transfiguration experience of Peter, James and John would have no value except they shared the experience with others. The provenance of that experience for Peter, James, and John is such that you and I are here, 2000 years later reading and reflecting about it. If you do not share your faith experiences with others, they are certainly useless to God. Who 10 years from now, 20, 50 years from now will look back upon your faith as having provenance?

What experiences have you had and who have you encountered that made your own faith "priceless”? What's your story? What gives your story significant value to others? What is the source of your life of faith?  If we have accepted Christ as our Savior and Lord each of us has our own "faith provenance" that we need to share and celebrate, because it has value beyond ourselves. What is your "provenance story"? 

Amen

Freedom of Speech

On March 2 the United States Supreme Court in an 8 to 1 decision upheld Fred Phelp’s Westboro Baptist Church’s right to picket with hate signs at military funerals.  The decision upheld the First Amendment right to free speech.  This tiny church led by Mr. Phelps travels all over the country to protest at high visibility funerals, mostly of soldiers killed in action, to gain media attention for their views. The foundation for all of this, they state, is their hatred for homosexuals—even though the fallen soldiers were not themselves homosexual. Their hatred expressed in their oral statements and on their signs is not just directed at the soldiers or their families, but toward our nation as a whole. To them, the soldiers, regardless of their character and cause of death, and the soldiers’ families are going to hell, and our nation alongside as well, because, supposedly, we all condone and promote homosexuality.

The facts of the case before the Court were simple. The protesters stayed on public property. They were “peaceful” and did not engage in any physical confrontation. They obeyed the local rules. There was simply no basis for ruling against them, despite the ugliness of their actions and overall demeanor and language. While many Americans find their actions ugly, deplorable, and disgusting—myself included—and many  are upset about the Supreme Court's decision, I have to agree with the Court.

The Court’s decision is a reaffirmation that all Americans have a right to express their views, popular or otherwise, about matters of public interest. An overriding commitment to freedom of speech—even deeply offensive speech—is at the heart of the court's  decision, and of the First Amendment. This is one of our most fundamental freedoms, and lies at the heart of the greatness of our nation both realized in the past and potential for our future. It is tragic that Phelps and his small band of followers do not see that the soldiers they denigrate were willing to give their lives for their freedom to demean others about whom they know nothing.

What is overlooked by the media, and sadly by so many of us, including, unfortunately these days many of our political leaders of both parties, is that with freedom of speech comes responsibility.  I knew a long-serving and wise Congresswoman in New Jersey who once told me that, “we pass laws to try to make people do what common sense and decency should make us do willingly without prodding.”  There are those who would like a law of some sort passed that would keep Phelps and his misguided followers from doing what they do. I pray we do not abrogate our personal responsibility and allow such a law to be passed. 

If enough people would rise up and speak out against Mr. (I refuse to call him a “pastor”) Phelps to their neighbors, and especially to their local media national and denounce his ugly anti-Christian behavior, he would lose his voice, his media outlets. It is not a matter of whether homosexuality is a sin or not—there are other times and other forums to discuss, even argue, that. It is a matter of Christ-like decency, of following Christ’s teachings to love our enemies, love our neighbors, judge not lest we be judged, and treat others as God commands us to do.  Mr. Phelps, I rather suspect, would have tossed the Samaritan woman down the well, and would have picked up and thrown the largest stone available at the other woman brought before Jesus accused of adultery. 

God gave us free will, but not license to treat others badly.  Freedom means we can make choices, and with our choices come consequences. If we choose to be irresponsible with our freedom, both God given and Constitutional, we will pay a dear price. We have the right to remain silent, but if we choose to be silent and not involved when our freedoms are threatened or used to treat others in less than a Christ like manner, we will pay a dear price. What should be our response to people like Mr. Phelps?  I invite you to read the Gospel of Matthew starting with chapter 5 and through chapter 7, and then ask yourself, “what would Jesus do