1 Day Until Confirmation and Hours Before Creek Baptisms

Tired. Must move...fingers.

All is now complete... we just need good weather for this evening (and warm dry towels)!

All is done in the details...now we just need the Holy Spirit to show up... been asking and requesting the Divine Presence all week to arrive on time!

And then at 12:05pm on Sunday afternoon this shepherdess/pastor will go home and nap. sigh.

3 Days Until Confirmation Sunday

Our creek is swollen three times it's normal size and the water current is about 10 miles per hour. Don't ask how cold the water temperature is because I just thawed my fingers enough to write this blog.

Egads - this will be a memorable baptism experience on Saturday!

In fact this entire confirmation program has been memorable in ways we've not yet seen in recent past. What stands out in my mind this year have been the deeper questions we've pondered... a student deciding not to be baptized and confirmed because she realizes she is not quite ready 'to go public with her faith'. She did not want to do an empty ritual. (wow- gotta admire her honesty and integrity)

Student from another congregation in our area who after completing all the necessary aspects of the program will be baptized within their home church, yet feeling torn because of the camaraderie and community we've experienced together. His eyes lit up like Christmas tree lights when we told him, 'he'd always have a home here'.

Student who desires to dig deeper in her faith and show her commitment to Christ in a different and yet separate way from how her parent's have guided her. She wants to show God that she is the one now choosing her faith... so we will re-affirm her baptism in the creek.

Not only have the students inspired and stretched my theological imagination (in other words they'd made me earn my keep this year), but I am equally impressed by the caring commitment our mentors make with our students. Wow- we have some amazing mentors because the stories and reports our confirmands tells us... influence, impact, advice, wisdom, love, care... these mentors have POURED into their students.... it is such a blessing!

Labor of love- that is what this is. A labor of love to make disciples and not church members.

No wonder the creek is swollen because my heart is overflowing with pride, joy and love as well.

No Post-Easter Let Down for Me!

After over thousand people in worship (Saturday and Sunday)- you'd think I'd take some well-deserved time off. Or at least slow down a little.

Ha! I am trying to overachieve my way to crazy-ville!

It is 5 days and counting until Confirmation Sunday. We've got 7 interviews to go. Four baptisms in the creek on Saturday (there will be a plethora of water. may have to weigh down the baptismal candidates so they do not float away). And I've got a large amount of behind-the-scenes details to finish before this weekend (like my sermon)! I love making disciples and not church members.

But besides that small little event (ha ha), today my Bible study and I celebrated our final DISCIPLE Bible class today! Whoopee... in the Word and into the world was our theme. And now, with our priorities re-aligned we're all set to be DISCIPLES of Christ in the world.

Then, tonight I've got to finish my casserole for tomorrow's volunteer brunch at church. I am blessed with the help of our entire staff on this one, but I guess I am running 'point' as they say.

Sometime during the day I shall sneak off and complete a special errand in honor of our church administrator, Fay, (Wednesday is Secretary's Day, or now they call it Administrative Assistant's Week). Gotta keep the gifts and cards flowing...

So, for all those folks who think pastors ONLY WORK SUNDAYS or ONLY WORK DURING Christmas and Easter- I say, "Are you kidding?!!"

I'll take time off later... like either when I am dead or this summer which ever comes sooner.

Kingdoms Not of this World

Yesterday one of my friends and colleagues gave me a letter while I was folding costumes for another church to use in their Good Friday drama. The opening paragraph provides an succinct summary of our current situation in America...

"Our congregations are caught in the crucible of a nation which is trying to redefine itself economically and politically. She is engaging in multiple conflicts as well as attempting to compete with nations who are using sovereign wealth to achieve world dominance. Every time we go to the gas pump we become more and more aware of this."

My friend has captured the condition of our situation. A sad and unsettling description.

Which makes me all the more glad of something the-man-down-the-hall reminded me of (aka Todd). My colleague reminded me that we, Easter people, are pilgrim people. We are not for this world. O yes, we live in it and make witness of Christ in this world, but this world ultimately is not ours, but our Lord's to handle, solve, resolve, heal and redeem.

Moreover, we need not look to Caesar or the President, the Senate or the House of Representatives to solve our problems. We, who believe in the message of Easter, look instead into the eyes of the One who is risen from the dead; who has been to hell and back. He is the source of our solutions.

This Thursday before Easter- I shall look into the eyes of our Savior at the table with all my fellow believers... and wait on him to pass his broken body for our healing and to share the cup of his blood for our redemption.

Come, Lord Jesus, come our world needs you.

How to Survive Holy Week- What You'll Need

1. Protein bars and chocolate. But if you've given up chocolate for Lent you've completely messed things up. So, try alcohol unless you're trying not to aid someone else's addiction then just stick with cheeseburgers so that you can have a heart attack during the Good Friday service therefore increasing attendance by the EMT's who come with their sirens blazing.



2. Lots of bulletins. You need to create, edit, and then print with as many mistakes and typos as possible in your bulletins to give people who never ever come to worship something to do during the anthems.



3. Something to go terribly wrong with your building. Like the lights not working or a fire. Flash floods are hard to arrange since the great 'ark/rainbow' incident of Genesis.



4. Staff to become ill or temporarily disabled. This is tricky to accomplish, but it might be good if the flu went around your staff or at least some sort of digestive disease that no one can diagnosis soon enough.



5. Stinky flowers. Order as many smelly spring flowers so that all the people who have allergies come to worship on Easter will hate it and therefore never bother to return again until Christmas when you have stinky poinsettas and evergreens.



6. Indulgent foods. Make sure for the Maundy Thursday service you have stale hard to break bread for Communion. Therefore folks will not longer be interested in Jesus and presume he is as stale and unyeilding as this bread (it wil help you cut down on next year's attendance). Also, if you serve an Easter brunch make sure the food is unedible and looks unappealling. Makes clean up easier later when you drop everything off at the food bank.



7. Make sure you fail to sign people up to greet, usher, and host any of these special worship services. The less friendly people and less times someone new comes in contact with your people the better. Saves you time and money because who'd want their church to grow, anyway?



8. Boring music, dull sermons, ugly people... all of these points should be understood. everyone is more interested anyway in their socceer, baseball, senior year, prom, karate, and music lessons to worry much about God, Jesus, salvation, hope, and joy. So if the people are not interested, then by all means cancel choir practices and put only 10 minutes of study into your sermons.

I hope by now you realize that I really don't recommend any of these things in order to survive Holy Week or as some church workers call it, Hell Week. Each of us in spite of the busyness and long To Do lists must find ways and means to sit and soak in the mysteries of what this week brings for Christians around the world.

May you thrive in this Holy Week and not just survive!

Bragging on Confirmation Graduates

Hard to argue with a real-live, normal, good-looking, articulate, and funny person who has a God-testimony, isn't it?

That is what our current confirmands discovered on Sunday in our last class of this year. Sure they put their heads down when us teachers, Andrew and I, talked about faith. Their eyes wandered and drooped. They doodled in their notebooks when we spoke the Christian faith is a lifestyle. They 'tuned us out' as best they could when talked about the spiritual disciplines a person needs to participate in in order for their faith to stay vibrant, engaged and alive.

But, all that stopped when four guests started talking. They looked up. The confirmands made eye contact. They paid attention when graduates of previous confirmation classes from 1998 to 2007 were in attendance in our class.

Who cares whether they heard me explain the importance of Bible study, but when a high school junior talks about how she reads the Bible and how it helps her in school- they paid attention.

Who cares whether they heard Andrew describe the four essential parts of corporate worship and how and why those aspects are important, but when a 20-something guy talks about his Bible study and why he sings in the Praise Choir because he wants a relationship with God and doesn't want to be alone- our confirmands were the sponges as the words were the water!

They heard four young people talk about how before Confirmation they hated coming to church and didn't see the point, but that their confirmation class/experience taught them and helped them realize that now they WANT to be in church and be involved. I got glory bumps it was so amazing!

I thank God that Calvary UMC has so many amazing graduates of Confirmation who every day live their lives for Christ... so that they can be transparent examples of the faith and do the 'teaching' that Andrew and I cannot do. Our current confirmation students will remember what our four guests said in 10 minutes, but forget what we taught during the other 50 minutes.

And- that is okay by me. I'll plant a seed and find joy in the person(s) who comes along and waters as long as God gets the glory!

Baptism, Once

Tuesday in our DISCIPLE Bible class one of the students asked, "So what's the deal with the United Methodist rule on baptism only once?" Here is my response...

• Baptism as a sacrament is an outward sign of a inward grace. Something we do publicly with normal every things (like water and people) that means something sacred/special and theological about our relationship to God and God’s relationship to us.

• Baptism is about forgiveness of sins, regeneration of new life, initiation into the Body of Christ, rejection of evil and sin, new birth through water and Spirit, AND work of the Holy Spirit to grant Spiritual gifts for the benefit of the congregation. (All these I can give you Biblical references to if you want them.)

• Baptism for infants, youth and adults is more about what God has done, is doing, and will ever do than about the person receiving baptism. This is where our Wesley emphasis on prevenient grace is very important. We believe that God’s forgiveness, mercy and love PRECEED us throughout our lives.. going before us to woo us towards God’s love. This is especially highlighted when we baptize children declaring very boldly that God’s love goes before (and with) this child throughout his/her life to draw him/her closer to God’s love.

If we believe these things about baptism then why do baptism again? If we would re-baptize does it activate/motivate God to love a person more? NO! Does it mean God has forgiven a person more or less? NO! Does it mean that the person being baptized again is more holy, more secure in their relationship with God? NO!

My experience over the years tells me that when folks seek baptism again is it not about an impoverished theology of who God is or what God is doing in the sacrament itself, but is it more about how that person is thinking and what has been happening in their life. Many times folks want a ‘memory’ of their baptism. This seems to be important for them. (They do not seem to pay attention that God has a memory about their baptism and wouldn’t God’s memory of it take precedent over a human’s memory?!)

It seems these folks want a re-dedication. They are seeking a moment of decision. Wouldn’t that moment of decision happen before the act/ritual of ‘rebaptism’ anyway?

Please do not misunderstand me- I think that moments of re-dedication, re-newal, re-commitment are VERY important along the way. I have found within my marriage that I often reclaim and recommit myself to my spouse. So why wouldn’t I do that in my loyalty towards God?

Perhaps if folks are seeking a vehicle to re-commit themselves then we need to incorporate that in our service of Holy Communion, or in call to prayer at the kneeling rail in worship to re-commit, or to simply invite folks throughout their journeys that when they feel inspired to re-dedicate themselves- that they do so in acts of service, kindness, giving and/or generosity.

When we offer an Baptism Re-newal service we use water in some way and say to folks, “Remember your baptism and be thankful.” I often tell the confirmands that we are not asking them to conjure up a memory of the event of their baptism… rather we are asking them to remember what they are a baptized person. Remember what God has done and is doing in your life. Remember God has a claim on you. Remember God forgives you and loves you. Remember to whom you belong.

Remember your baptism and be thankful!

Big B-Day

On this sunny, April day our yellow lab was born. We had been awaiting his arrival with great anticipation and joy. Never heard much from the mother about how difficulty or easy her labor was. She was an experienced mother though. So I am hopeful all was simple and without trama. The trama came when the mutt arrived in our lives! He tried to eat the deck. Our Duke pup got stuck under the deck. And he cried so pitifully the first few nights away from his litter that your heart broke into a trillion pieces hearing his whimpers. Months later after being house broken we took him to puppy school. Actually, I took him to puppy school. Never knew that an owner could get an A- and the pet a B+, but that is how life is with 93 pounds of fur and wiggles. Our dog has a drinking problem- he drips everywhere. Duke likes to eat Kleenex, puzzle pieces and is partial to Barbie clothes. He swallows rocks and then vomits them up during the wee hours of the night. But he has his good points too.

• When the door is open or fence gate left open- he will not bolt, but stays put until called.


• He is happy to meet new people and familiar friends.


• He does not bark unless on command.


• We think he has eaten a rabbit (not E. Bunny, but another rabbit. So our garden will grow this year.)


• He warms my feet in winter.


• Duke loves to play in Diana's summer pool.


• He is a great excuse for a family walk and some exercise.


• He intimidates strangers who come to our door.

So, Happy Birthday, Duke pup! Hard to believe you're now 28 in dog years. Can you contribute something to household other than fur?

Longing

Oh how I long for thee, my dear dark chocolate. Our parting brings me much sadness and lonliness... how many days, again, until we are reunited? Surely we are ofer halfway to Easter by now. Does my longing for you even come close to my love for Jesus? After all my abstinance is for him. To show him my love... not sure if my heart has truly 'gotten' the meaning and purpose of this fast. sigh. Maybe I should have given up the internet, Facebook, or blogging for Lent, instead of my all time favorite comfort food?! What do you think?