In My Grief I Hope

You will have to forgive me, this sermon is a little more confessional than I would care for it to be; but I am deeply heartbroken this morning. As many are currently searching through the rubble of elementary schools, homes, businesses, and hospitals, in the wake of one the most devastating tornadoes in Oklahoma history, we gather in this place, among one another, with one another, and in our own midst there is suffering: Friends diagnosed with horrible diseases; loved ones suffering unexpected losses. Our scripture passage this morning, then, causes me to grieve as well as causes me to hope.

Jesus enters a town called Nain, along with with his disciples and a large crowd that has followed him. A he approaches the town gate, a dead person is being carried out. We learn quickly that the dead man is the only son of his mother and she is a widow. When Jesus saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don't cry.” Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, rise up!” The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

In the wake of such horrific natural disasters, and in the wake of our personal losses, this passage causes me to grieve because I would give everything I own if Jesus could appear, reach down beside the dead and say, “I say to you, rise up.” I would give everything for parents who have lost a child to hear those words. I would give everything for mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, friends and neighbors to be able to hear those words spoken as they struggle through the wreckage of homes and schools. I would give everything for us to hear those words. But we won't. And that saddens me.

It saddens me because here we are, thousands of years later and we are still waiting to hear those words from the Lord. It saddens me because, lately, it feels as though there is nothing but chaos and death around us. It saddens me because it is a struggle in my faith. It saddens me because instead of hearing the voice of Christ, our friends will hear some ill-thought-out, unbiblical explanation from some minister in the public eye or some minister turned politician. It saddens me because during weeks like this, that are becoming too far common, I cry out, as the psalmist did, “Oh God, our God! Why have you forsaken us? Why are you so far from saving us, so far from the words of our groaning? O our God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.” It saddens because there is no voice in the desert; there is no parting of the sea, no shouting, “Peace be still.” It saddens because I feel we've been abandoned.

It is then, in the midst of that dark despairing hole, that I hear Luke's words again, “When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her”. I hear those words and my faith is given strength because, while I may not be able to hear the Lord's voice in the midst of the mighty wind, I see the Lord on his knees digging through the rubble. I see the Lord, with tears in his eyes, watching over the helpers. My faith is strengthened because I know when I ask, “Where are you, God?” A small voice tells me to look among the hurting and see the Lord there.

Yes, this passage causes me to grieve and it causes me to hope.

My heart cries out, as the psalmist did, in lament of the destruction and my soul finds comfort as the psalmist continues, “For the Lord has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted; God has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.” It is in the attentive listening of the psalmist, we discover that it is possible to go before God with our broken hallelujahs. It is in the attentive listening to the words of Luke, “When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her.” we find hope. In our listening attentively, we find hope in the belief that Christ is not absent when tragedy strikes. By listening attentively, we know Christ is not absent in our grief or our anger; we know Christ to be in the midst of the rubble. By listening attentively, we hear the psalmist speak in the very next psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd.” so we take hope in knowing that our shepherd is with us amongst the rubble.

If we listen to the story attentively, we see that this story is a communal story as well. The widow is not suffering alone, she is surrounded by others who are walking with her as she goes to bury her child. Jesus is not alone either, not only is he accompanied by his disciples but by a large crowd, following him in hopes to see some miracle. These two communities converge into one when Jesus meets the widow outside the gate. It is here we take comfort and hope because we see how Jesus bears the burden of another. He has compassion on her, reaching out and touching her son. In his compassion, Jesus touches the unclean dead, to bring hope and life back to the widow. In his compassion, by bearing the burdens of this widow, and of the community, Jesus returns her son back to her.

If we look closely we see how Jesus enacts the three Christian services: By listening attentively, he hears the cries of the widow and the crowd. By bearing the burdens of others, he reaches out and touches the coffin. By actively helping, he raises her son from the dead and returns him to her. In his compassion, we see that while we may not hear Christ speak those words today, we can help our neighbors in need. We can find the smallest of ways to help when tragedy strikes. We can open our hearts and mourn with them. We can help and take on their burdens as they recover, so they are not recovering alone.

While it is indeed hard to stay in community with one another, I believe it is even harder to allow the community to care for us when we are in pain or hurt. We are a prideful people, taught to not show weakness or ask for help in the midst of our pain. We are encouraged to bury the pain deep inside until it aches at us and harms us in other ways it never should. I think the truth is, if Jesus did show up and speak those words to us, we might deny him the chance to raise us because we are too prideful. This story shows the importance of allowing the community of faith, our Christian community in during these painful times. If we do not allow the community to help bear our burdens, we will surely crumple under them.

An article came across my newsfeed the other day which read, “California Town Still Reeling From Teen's Suicide”. As I read the article, my heart continued to sink as it revealed the statistics of teen suicide and it's relation to bullying both in person and online. My heart sank as the article revealed that these teens felt all was lost and they were unable to get help. They felt lost, empty, and alone. The article focused on girls who were sexually assaulted and then bullied because they were victims. Recently in Ohio, as two football players were convicted on raping a classmate, the victim was bullied by not only her peers but by the media as well. We are in a culture that turns victims of horrible crimes and of tragedies into scapegoats and place them at fault. In doing so, when the Christian community remains silent in these moments, and allow others to speak false words, where are they going to find hope and help? Where are they going to find a place where the words of Christ and the deeds of Christ are seen by others bearing with one another in love? Where are they going to find healing if they cannot find it in the church?

We teach our youth and children to bear their own burdens and not talk about their pain or ask for help when they need it. We teach them that toughness is not allowing others to see you weak or see you when you are bleeding. We teach them that church is not a place for their hurts or their pain. We teach them those things belong outside the church walls and the church gates. We must teach them differently. We must allow space in our sanctuary for them to find sanctuary, where they can speak of their fears, their anger, their hurt, their worries, and their struggles, and where they can be welcomed, loved, appreciated, and cared for. We must teach them differently, else our hearts will continue to be broken by the news of teen suicide on the rise.

As I turn the television off and put the days tragedies off to the side, I am reminded in our gospel story, of those who cannot. I am reminded of those who have been so deeply affected by a tragedy they are alone and isolated. I am reminded they do not have the luxury of turning it off. As I read this gospel story, as I read of Jesus' compassion, my heart urges me not to turn away from the hurting. It reminds me of my baptism, of my call, of my ordination. It reminds me of an old Neil Diamond song, “Now you got yourself two good hands and when your brother and sister are troubled you got to reach out your one hand for them 'cause that's what it's there for. And when your heart is troubled you got to reach out your other hand, reach it out to the Lord up there 'cause that's what he's there for.”

Indeed there is pain and suffering in our world. We may not be able to solve all the world's problems, indeed some are too big, but we can make a difference by serving one another by attentively listening, active helpfulness, and bearing with one another. We may be able to avoid tragedy but we can help others recover, we can reach out to them because Christ once reached out to us. We can reach out and offer a place of love and compassion because the Christ who took compassion on the widow, has taken compassion on you and I. Let us reach out our hand to the troubled, because that it is what it is there for. Let us have the courage to reach out our hand when in pain and in suffering to not only the Lord but to take the hand of the community that reaches out for us.

Music of the Community

Yesterday was a strange Sunday. I had to interrupt a meeting early Sunday morning to inform a church member her sister had passed away. An hour later, the rescue squad arrives to take another elderly church member to the hospital, and our church pianist/organist goes with her. So we were without music on Sunday; which is interesting because this post is about a musical request I received after a little chaotic Sunday morning.

After the service ended, one of our younger families stopped me and asked who was in charge of music on Sundays. I told them myself and the choir director. She then asked if we would consider playing or using one contemporary song in the current worship service. I told her we will definitely talk about it but my post isn't about which worship style is the best. I am not a worship music elitist who thinks one is superior to the other. There are wonderful praise/modern worship songs just as there are hymns as well as horrid ones as there are horrid hymns (I'm looking at you "Onward Christian Soldiers"). This post is about the request.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, "Because it is completely bound to the Word, the singing of the congregation in its worship service, especially the singing of the house church, is essentially singing in unison." (Bonhoeffer, Life Together pg 66-67).

Usually when someone requests a change in style of music they request either to remove the current style of music from worship or create an entirely new worship service specific to that style of music. This request was not like that. It was a request to incorporate a style of music into an existing style of music. It was a request to incorporate the new in with the old. It's not a blended style or a blended service, it was an incorporation of young and old together. I was taken back. I was excited. I was proud!

Our focus these past few Sundays has been on the Christian community and what it means to live in community together. I spoke about how interconnected we are and how we cannot escape one another and how we are called to work and live together because the community was formed in and held together by Christ alone. And now, someone was making a request to incorporate another style of music that represented a portion of the community. It was a statement that said, "We're not asking to exile the others. We are asking to be included. We are asking that our style be honored as well."

They wanted to remain a part of the community and they wanted to give their talents to the community. Being in Christian community means that we listen to one another and what I heard Sunday was a person saying, "My family and I love it here and we would like to incorporate our style of worship into the style of worship of the community." For the first time, a request was made that was not an either/or request. It was not a request to separate but a request to be included, to be incorporated.

There are some logistically issues that need to be addressed and some commitments made; and of course we could argue/debate/discuss whether or not we would be able to do it well. Those are topics for another conversation; for now I am resting in the watershed moment of a family's desire to incorporate into the existing community by adding to and not taking away.

One Faith, One Baptism, One Community

Last week, I cut my sermon short and ended with a teaser for this week's sermon, an attempt to get you to come back to hear the rest. Sort of like the old Adam West “Batman” series, it would end right when it was getting good, just so you'd return to the same bat-time and same bat-channel. The original ending was this, “This is why our baptism is such a vital part of faith. It is not a life saving measure but an event that binds us together. We serve one another because we have been baptized into a new life and our new life is a life that is lived together. Through our baptism, we die to the ways of the world and are raised to the way of Christ: the Christ who ate at the table of tax collectors, prostitutes, and, yes, the pharisees. Through our baptism we have joined a family that we can never be rid of, because we are bound together in Christ. And it is our baptism that holds us to this truth, “We are none of us alone.” May the tie that binds, bless us, and you unbeliever, and you.”

I believe when we sing “Bless be the Tie” every 1^st Sunday, we are not only singing that it is Christ who ties us together, it is also a reminder of our baptism. A reminder that our baptism into the family of Christ, is the outward expression of our faith and our mark as followers of Christ. When we make the conscious decision to follow Christ, our salvation is met, but when we follow that with our baptism then we have made the decision to be committed to one another through baptism. Our baptism is similar to the laying on of hands deacons and ministers receive. It is a decision to commit and bind ourselves to live in the Christian community with one another. It is a promise.

In his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul writes, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:1-6).

For us, who have been called and believe, we are bound together through one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God of all. Our baptism then becomes a promise the Christian community to faithfully live in the community and become a part of the community. It is not just an outward act in which we show the community we have become a follower of Christ, it is something more. Our baptism is our promise to live and work in the community of faith, to pray for another, to help one another, to bear with one another. We cannot fully commit to the three acts of service (attentive listening, active helpfulness, and bearing one another's burdens) if we have not bound ourselves together in the unity of our baptism. We cannot do so because we do not have anything holding us to a promise to care for the community. Our baptism becomes our promise, our reminder of the reason we've chosen to be a part of this Christian community.

I have stated this truth over the past few Sundays: staying in community with one another is hard. It is easier to leave a community and find a new one when disagreements arise or feelings are hurt. If we are a Christian community, bounded together in Christ and in our baptism, then we have an obligation to work together and work through any conflict that arises.

Part of my marriage ceremonies includes a charge to the couple. It goes something like this: Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens. A good marriage must be created. It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives. It is standing together facing the world. It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family. It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice, but in the spirit of joy. It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways. It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humor. It is having the capacity to forgive and forget. It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow. It is finding room for the things of the spirit. It is a common search for the good and the beautiful. It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal, dependence is mutual and the obligation is reciprocal. It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner. There will be times of great joy as well as sorrow. Through it all, you will remain side by side one another until parted by death. Do you commit yourselves in this way?

The charge is done to remind the couple of what they are committing to one another for. They are not just getting married, they are making a promise to one another to remain side by side until they are parted by death. Likewise, when we gather in the water, we make a promise to the congregation gathered around us. We promise to listen and seek God. We promise to follow and obey God's call. We promise to join with the Christian community by participating in the life of the community. As we are lowered into the water, we bury our old life and as we come up, we are being raised in the newness of life. This newness of life is growing in the understanding in which we are urged to live a life worthy of the calling we have received. To be completely humble and gentle; being patient, bearing with one another in love. To make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as we were called to one hope—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

In our baptism, we bury our old understanding of community and we are raised in the newness of Christ's community. It is the newness in recognizing the beauty of the Christian community and the diversity within. It is the newness of living a life of service by listening attentively, actively helping, and bearing with one another. This newness of life binds you and I together while allowing room for others to join. This newness of life recognizes the important roles everyone has in the Christian community, the importance of welcoming in the sinner, the importance of living together both the weak and the strong. Our baptism is outward proclamation that we have accepted Christ's charge to live in community with not only our fellow believers, but with the unbeliever as well.

Our focus on the Christian community these past few weeks has caused to me reflect on past sermons and past lessons. I recall my fourth Sunday here preaching on an invitation to the wedding banquet. It was a sermon on the parable of the wedding banquet in Luke and the focus was urging us to stop looking at the people (inactive members) who have rejected the invitation and focus on those who have. I was advocating that the church needed to stop asking itself what they need to change in order to bring others who have left back in. Instead, I believed we were being asked to go out and bring people in who are looking for a place to belong. I still hold to that view. I still believe that the church shouldn't change worship styles or add programs just to appease one person. To do so, I believe, is to put the individual above the community and can do harm to the Christian community. However...

As I reflected on the stories of Lydia and the jailer, I realized something. I realized I was wrong to suggest we stop inviting them. If we our bound together in our baptism then we are not only bound to those who are here every Sunday, or those who have yet to believe, but we are bound to those who are not here. We are still bound to them in our baptism and we are required to go out and get them and bring them back into the community: for are they not among those who are hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, or the imprisoned? Are they not still a part of the Christian community? Then should we not go to them as well? Should we not seek to reconcile and bring them back into the community?

There in lies the difference between changing the community to fit the individual and being in true Christian community. It is to recognize, and remember in our baptism, that the Christian community is a gift of grace from kingdom of God, given and held together by Christ alone. And it is a fragile gift that can be taken away at any given moment. To remember that is to remember while humanity frustrated God, God remained in community with creation. Thus, we hold to the truth in our profession of faith, and through the expression of baptism, we belong to one another only through Jesus Christ (Bonhoeffer, Life Together pg 30-31).

We have been given this Christian community by Christ and it is sustained by Christ, which means, there is nothing done that cannot be undone or forgiven. What is it that binds us from going to the absent members of the community and offering forgiveness or seeking forgiveness? Think for a moment, how often in the scriptures are the wronged or the hurt, the ones who offer forgiveness and seek reconciliation? Being in community with one another is indeed a gift from God and we have promised to care for it and one another through our baptism; should we not then go out and seek to bring others who have left back into the community? It is really better for them to remain absent and in loneliness then to have that difficult conversation of reconciliation; then to sit in the tension of our past while worshiping in the present? I believe our baptism is important because it is our outward expression of our faith and our promise to actively live and actively care for the Christian community. A promise that includes reincorporating the lost and the absent. We are, after all, none of us alone.

“Once upon a time, there was a priest named Malcolm who worked in a parish that developed a particular ministry to rehabilitate young offenders which included a furniture resource center, which took old furniture and restored it and made available to any in need. One of those offenders was a teenager named Paul. Paul was 15 years old with a history of misusing drugs. He supported his drug habit by breaking and entering homes and stealing valuables that he could pawn off. During his ministry, Malcolm came to know a woman named Kristel. Kristel lived with her young daughter in a house down from the church. She too had a drug problem and financed by bringing men back to her house at night while her daughter was asleep. When Malcolm came to visit her, he discovered there was no furniture in the house, except a lone mattress. Everything else had been sold to pay her pimp. Malcolm thought she could benefit from the furniture resource center.

The day came when Paul and Malcolm filled the truck with tables, chairs, cupboards, chests of drawers, and wardrobes, along with toys, games, and books for the little girl. They arrived at Kristel's home and knocked. No answer. No Kristel and no little girl. Having no idea what happened to them or where they were, Paul had an idea. “Tell you what,” he said, “how about if we just take all the stuff in anyway—she'll get a surprise when she walks in!” It took Malcolm a little while to understand what Paul was suggesting. “You mean, break into the house?” but as soon as he said it, he recalled that a mere lock was no obstacle for Paul. In no time they were in the house, and the furniture was all off the truck, the toys all over the floor.

Then Kristel came home. She saw the opened door and ran into the house, shocked and terrified. She saw Malcolm and burst into tears. “I can explain--” he said but quickly realized that the tears of horror had turned to tears of joy. Her little girl had toys and books. She herself had comfortable chairs and a place to eat and talk and relax. Malcolm was thrilled to see her joy and then he saw Paul. Paul was crying too, but for a different reason. He'd never made someone happy before. He knew how to break into houses and knew that he had broken hearts and lives by doing so. Now he had broken into someone's house, into someone's life, and for the first time brought joy not tragedy, hope not despair. His new life had begun.” (Samuel Wells, Improvisation: The Drama of Christian Ethics pg 148-149).

A new community is formed by Malcolm when he reincorporates, brings back in, both the lost and the absent. Both Paul and Kristel learn that they are useful and have a place in the community, even though they had been ousted. Reincorporating the lost and the absent may seem like tedious work and it may seem fruitless but in a community built in and through Christ, then every effort must be made to reach out and bring them back into the community; because Christ once reached out and brought us back into the community. Thus, why we need to remember our baptism. Not only does it serve as our promise, it serves as a reminder of when we became a part of the Christian community and the arms that reached out and took us in, and nurturing our lives sent us out to live as a part of the Christian community.

This past week I asked several of my friends to share with me there baptism stories and while, we may be short on time, I thought this one would highlight the importance of our baptism story as it relates to the Christian community. My friend Patrick tells his story like this: “I was scared to death of baptism. I had no problem accepting Jesus, but I was terrified I was going to drown in the baptismal. I don't know where that came from, I knew how to swim. It was always so intimidating when I saw others in the church baptized, though. What I remember most is when I finally got enough courage to go forward and tell the church, so many people came up to hug me that they broke my glasses with their forceful and happy hugs. I really felt like I was being welcomed into the family...and I did not drown. True story.”

In my mind the image of a child being hugged so hard his glasses break, is indeed the image of when we reincorporate and bring back in the lost and the absent. I think of the hymn coming to life in the here and now, “Oh what a day of rejoicing that will be.” May we remember to live a life worthy of the calling we have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as we were called to one hope when we were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Let us remember our baptism and let us ask ourselves, what is it that prevents us from coming to these waters. Amen.

Et Vous Païen, Et Vous

Last week, I preached that we are none of us alone. Each of us are connected to one another as a Christian community. I preached that the Christian community is not just for the Christian but the “un” as well. The care for both the Christian and the “un” in the Christian community is essential to being a Christian community. It is the understanding that if we have been created in God's image than the one who has yet decided to follow Jesus, is also created in God's image, thus we are tasked to care for them as well. It is the commandment Jesus gave of serving one another, serving your neighbor by loving them as you love yourself, loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you. It is caring for all of humanity because humanity belongs to God, therefore we are tasked to care for your neighbor, for all of humanity. In our scripture story this morning shows us the importance of caring for our neighbor.

Paul and Silas are on their way to a place of prayer in Philippi when they run into some trouble. One day they meet a slave girl who had a spirit of divination, and she made her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and his companions around shouting, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim the way of salvation.” She kept doing this for many days until Paul becomes very annoyed with her and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And at that moment, the spirit came out.

Sadly, when her owners saw that their hopes of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. Before the magistrates, they said, “These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.” The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered to be beaten with rods. After they had given them a severe beating, they throw them in jail; ordering the jailer to keep them securely in the innermost cell.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there is a violent earthquake that shakes the foundations of the prison; and immediately all the doors were open and everyone's chains were unfastened. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he assumed that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself! We're all here!”

The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Bringing them outside, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God. (Acts 16:16-34).

After being beaten and thrown in jail, Paul and Silas are given an opportunity to escape. An earthquake violently shakes the foundations of the prison and the doors are open and the chains are broken. They could easily walk out, after all, it is highly justifiable to believe God sent the earthquake (though it is not in the text). Instead they stay put. All of them. All the prisoners and by staying put, they save the jailer's life. The jailer draws out his sword to take his life because if the prisoners had escaped, his life was forfeited. In what we see as a moment of compassion by Paul, he cries out to him not to take his life for they are all still there. It is a moment in which the Christian reaches out to the “un” and bears the “un's” burdens. Paul does not allow the stranger, the “un” to take his life. Paul knows the laws and customs and he bears the jailer's burdens by staying.

Remember, the Christian community is called to a life of three services: Attentive listening, active helpfulness, and bearing with others (Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” Gal. 6:2). Thus Paul demonstrates to us the importance of the Christian community bearing their neighbor. Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, “Thus the law of Christ is a law of forbearance. Forbearance means enduring and suffering. The other person is a burden to the Christian, in fact for the Christian most of all. The other person never becomes a burden at all for the pagans. They simply stay clear of every burden the other person may create for them” (Bonhoeffer, Life Together, pg 100).

Paul and Silas' decision to stay and bear the jail is an example we are bound to follow. If forbearance is the law of Christ, as Christ forbear humanity and suffered the cross, than we too must bear the burdens of others so that they may become a part of the Christian community. The jailer finds new freedom and life in Christ because Paul and Silas stayed. By choosing not to escape, Paul and Silas are able to welcome into the Christian community the jailer and his entire household. In return, the jailer bears the burdens of Paul and Silas. He takes them in, washes their wounds, and then brings them to his home and feeds them.

As Paul shows us what it means to bear the burden of the other, the jailer shows what it means to become a part of the community. The jailer does not simply walk away rejoicing, he brings his prisoners home, he washes their wounds, and he feeds them. He too bears their burdens because they are his burdens as well. Paul and Silas are no longer just prisoners, they are his community, his brethren. Notice how he cares for them but does not set them free. He bears their burdens but does not grant them their freedom, nor do they ask or demand that he frees them. Christian community is about bearing with one another and helping in ways that are not hurting.

If Paul had demanded the jailer to release them, the jailer's life would have been forfeited and justice would not be served. Instead it would have been cheap, selfish justice, and Christians in the Christian community do not place their selfish needs above another. The weak and the strong live with one another in constant community because they need one another. The removal of the weak is the death of the community. Thus, when it comes to the sinner, we cannot remove one from the community because where then will they find redemption or salvation? And if we remove one sinner should not remove ourselves because our sin in always greater than our neighbor's? Why then do you seek to remove the speck of sawdust from your neighbor's eye and ignore the blank in your own?

The weak must not judge the strong and the strong must not despise the weak. The weak must guard against pride, the strong against indifference. Neither must seek their own rights. If the strong persons fall, the weak ones must keep their hearts from gloating over the misfortune. If the weak fall, the strong must help them up in a friendly manner. The one needs as much patience as the other. As the writer of Ecclesiastes writes, “Woe to the one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help!” (Bonhoeffer pg 102).

Bonhoeffer writes, “Not despising sinners, but being privileged to bear with them, means not having to give them up for lost, being able to accept them and able to preserve community with them through forgiveness. As Christ bore with us and accepted us as sinners, we in his community may bear with sinners and accept them into the community of Jesus Christ through the forgiveness of sins. We may suffer the sins of one another; we do not need to judge. That is grace for Christians. For what sin ever occurs in the community that does not lead Christians to examine themselves and condemn themselves for their own lack of faithfulness in prayer and in intercession, for their lack of service to one another in mutual admonition and comforting, indeed, for their own personal sin and lack of spiritual discipline by which they have harmed themselves, the community, and one another?” (Bonhoeffer pg 102).

The jailer is as guilty of imprisoning Paul and Silas as the men who threw them into prison. But it is through the act of forgiveness and service of bearing with one another, that the jailer and his house join the family of Christ by listening the words of the gospel. Paul and Silas display for us the meaning of Christian community, as does the jailer, by bearing one another's burdens and not exiling the other. It is hard to remain in community, especially a community made up of sinners but if Jesus does not exile Peter for his denial, then we too must find a way to forgive one another, as Christ forgave us, and remain in this Christian community together. We must reach out, seeking to bring others in, so that they too may find a community that will bear with them their burdens.

I would for us, for a moment, to look back at the forgotten in this story. At the very beginning, the reason Paul and Silas are thrown in jail is because of a woman. This woman is filled with a spirit, and out of annoyance Paul commands the spirit to leave her. Normally, this is something to be praised. We should be happy for her but we forget that she is a slave and her only value to her masters has now been removed. What happens to her?

Sadly, we do not know. Paul is taken away and so our story follows, leaving behind a girl who most likely was sent to work in the mines or suffered a fate worse than death. She serves as reminder to us of those we have sought to free but never allowed to walk with us. She is every door to door salvation experience or child at VBS, who came, proclaimed faith in Christ, and are never heard from again. Why? Because we got what we wanted. We got our numbers for our Associational newsletters. We got our numbers for our senior adults. Yes, a life may have been saved but a life was lost as well because they never found that place where they are lifted up, where others help bear their burdens.

When I was youth minister, I would often be asked what type of youth minster I was. I was never quite sure how to answer that one beyond saying, “The best in the world.” What they were getting at was an expectation that said this, “We want a youth pastor who can say, “Come to me all you, adults, who are heavy burdened and I will give you rest. Your ridiculous attempts at ministry are washed away and forgotten. I release you from all your guilt and responsibility. I, the savior to adolescents, am all that is needed. Go now in peace and worry not for your children, for they are safe in my tan and well-defined arms.” (Mark Yaconeli, Contemplative Youth Ministry, pg 142).

They wanted someone who would excuse them from being present. They wanted someone who didn't expect them to be a part of nurturing and shaping the lives of these young students. But how can expect our youth and children to grow in Christ if adults are not willing to give up their time to help? We cannot complain about the morality of young people, when we are the ones responsible for not offering them a place in our own community. We cannot complain about everything going to hell when we've offered the world no other alternative. The Christian community, the church must understand that importance of serving one another through attentive listening, active helpfulness, and bearing one another. We cannot expect the Christian community to stay together if we seek only perfect people to remain. If that is our expectation, our understanding of community then we are going to grow old, alone.

This is why our baptism is such a vital part of faith. It is not a life saving measure but an event that binds us together. We serve one another because we have baptized into a new life and our new life is a life that is lived together. Through our baptism, we die to the ways of the world and are raised to the way of Christ. The Christ who ate at the table of tax collectors, prostitutes, and, yes, the pharisees. Through our baptism we have joined a family that we can never be rid of, because we are bound together in Christ. And it is our baptism that holds us to this truth, “We are none of us alone.” May the tie that binds, bless us, et vous païen, et vous. Amen.

My 3 Year Old Does Community Better

Each day, when Connor arrives home from daycare, I ask, "How was your day?" He proceeds to tell me the entire day's events in one breath. Now, I'm not sure what's going on at daycare but that boy has  been on more treasure hunts and to outer space than I have my entire life. The consistent story he tells is this: "I had fun with Austin, Kaleb, Braden, and Nathan. And Baby Scarlet and Baby Brianna (Banana is how he pronounces it). I was fighting with Kaleb."

I then ask him to clarify what he means by fighting and proceeds to tell me about wrestling with Kaleb or Kaleb took his toy or he bit Kaleb. Not entirely sure how much of that's true but what is true is that he and Kaleb butt heads. Both my son and Kaleb are alphas who like to be in charge and the two occasionally will fight and have trouble getting along.

Here is the fascinating observation. Every morning when Connor arrives, Kaleb shouts, "Connor!" He is excited to see him and immediately wants him to start playing cars with him. When I pick up Connor from daycare, Connor constantly will run over and hug Kaleb good-bye and give a good-bye fist-bump. No matter what had occurred during the day, these two kids are still excited to see each other and hug each other goodbye. They remain in community with one another despite their differences and their fights.

My 3 year old does community better than a majority of churches. That's saying something.

A Field of Dreams

Behind our tiny church sits an empty ball field, carved out of land given by a church member. It's not much, just your typical neighborhood sandlot but I believe it's the starting point to changing lives.

I grew up in the locker room. My dad was an athletic trainer my entire life and I spent my entire childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood surrounded by athletes and sports. In my 32 years I have attempted to play every sport I could. I played baseball, soccer, football, basketball, and eventually I settled in nicely with a sport that fit me, track and field. I love sports and I believe these games provide something for kids who are searching, just like music, art, or drama does. When I look out onto the ball field I see an opportunity to impact lives in the smallest of ways; the same way every athlete or coach did for me. (I am desperately fighting the desire to name drop.)

Every Sunday during the spring, summer and into the late fall, we host a softball game. Anyone is welcomed to join and provide gloves and bats for those who do not have one. For 3 hours every Sunday afternoon, teenagers show up to just hit the ball around, often trying to see who can out hit the other. For 3 hours they have absolute zero concerns. They are able to lay aside their issues at home, school, or in general and, for a while at least, they just get to be kids. To me those are the rare moments when the kingdom of heaven breaks through.

It's not much to teach a kid how to hit a softball but it means a lot to take the time to show them how. They may not ever say anything but I know based on their attitudes and their constant showing up, those little moments matter. There is something about an adult you admire taking a moment to say, “Great hit!” or “Let me show a trick here.” Just those small comments can impact a life far greater than a life time of well crafted sermons.

One of the biggest crises facing our students and children are absent parents, specifically absent fathers. Many do not get a chance to learn the wildness and fun of being a kid during the summer. They are not afforded those same moments many of us were when we'd organize the neighborhood kids into a pick up game. Today, teenagers and children are forced to grow up a lot faster than many of us were because they are alone. Their parents are either at work all the time trying to make ends meet or they are simply absent or, as is with many of our kids, they come from broken families where the father or mother want nothing to do with them. They need adults who are willing to spend just a few hours with them doing nothing but playing catch.

I have started to call our ball field the “Field of Dreams” after the Kevin Costner film of the same name. The whole theme was “Build it and they will come.” Turns out the "they" was really" he", Costner's dad. It fits because the purpose of it all is to simply play catch, after all, that's all Costner's character wanted to do with his dad, just to play catch, the film fades out as the two just toss the ball back and forth.. I think our churches get caught up doing something big for the kingdom that we forget about the importance of the small things. It reminds me of a story.

One morning, after the resurrection, Peter decides to go fishing and a few of the disciples decide to join him. They spend the entire day and night fishing. The next morning, a man calls from the shore, “Have you caught any fish?", and they respond, “No!”

“Throw your net out to the right!” he yells back. The disciples do not question the man. They simply cast their nets and within seconds their nets literally runneth over. John immediately says, “It's the Lord!” and Peter, in Peter like fashion, dives into the water and swims to shore while the disciples row like crazy to catch up. Nothing mattered in that moment but being with Jesus and all it took to see Jesus was to go and fish.

I think that is what it really means to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth. I think it means taking the time to do nothing but throw the ball around, in order for a kid to see Jesus. We can have all the evangelism conferences, big mission trips, rock concerts, revivals, but I'm starting to believe that all it really takes is an empty ball field and a game of catch to really change this world.

At least that's what I see happening out there every Sunday on our Field of Dreams.

That Moment You Call Yourself Out

Ever have one of those moments when you're preaching and you suddenly find yourself inadvertently calling yourself out in the sermon you're preaching?

I had that moment Sunday.

After a tense conversation with some friends about a Mother's Day post in which I voiced my frustration of our hypocrisy, I found myself deleting a sentence I had just written, "If you have a problem with my attitude or my thought, then either unfriend me or hide me. I don't care which." Sentences, such as that, come out of frustration and should not carry any weight to them, but they do.They carry a lot of weight and even if we do not mean them, we still said it. Despite what John Mellencamp says, what we in fact do say does matter just as much as what we do.

I didn't think much of that statement, since I thought better of it and did not post it, until I preached this sentence, "We cannot live absent of one another thus we must live in the tension of our hypocrisy, no matter how frustrating it can be. We are bound together in Christ and to the world." I came to the full realization in that moment, as I looked out into the congregation, how easy it has become to remove people from our lives. All it takes now is a click of a mouse and we can choose to no longer be connected to one another.

I have unfriended many on Facebook and I have been unfriended by many as well. I have unfriended for many different reasons: from annoyance, politics, racist posts, ignorance, etc. I have hidden people from my timeline due to their insistence I vote for someone or re-post some picture that tells me if I love Jesus I'll re-post and if I don't, I'll go to hell. I have left groups both open and closed and I have left social circles because I was done with arrogance and egos.

Some of those decisions, you can claim, were done for appropriate reasons, and some were not. The truth remains, we cannot escape one another. We deeply connected even when we wish were not. We cannot escape one another.

In the movie, "The Mask of Zorro" Diego de la Vega tells Alejandro not to chase after Capt. Love. He tells him to be patient and wait for Love to come into his circle. Recently I have become fascinated by the concept of a social circle, especially has mine begins to expand. If we are living life together, and are bound to one another, than I cannot remove someone from my circle once they enter into it. Once they become a part of my life, I cannot simply exile them, they are now a part of the circle for better or worse. Thus it is true what Bonhoeffer says, "...for we are members of one body not only when we want to be, but in our whole existence. This not a theory but a spiritual reality that is often experienced in the Christian community with shocking clarity, sometimes destructively and sometimes beneficially."

It is hard to remain in community with one another, especially given how we've come to understand it. We operate in a lot ways so much like the world that we are doing more harm to our community than good. We seek to exile the sinner, the weak from our community because they remind us of our own weakness. In doing so, we bring death to the community for the community cannot live without the weak. It is important to remember that "In suffering and enduring human beings, God maintained community with them."

If God has maintained community with human race then are we, God's people, followers of Christ, not supposed to do the same? Are we not supposed to maintain community with one another even when all we want to do is slam the door and leave?

I know I fall victim to the line of thought that removes others from my circle but I was reminded in a dream last night that the Christian community circle is far greater than any circle I could conjure. The dream went like this:

I awoke inside a run down town home in south Richmond and I noticed my shoes had holes in them. I left to walk to the store to buy a new pair. When I got to the shoe store, a few miles away, I struggled to find a pair that fit. Nothing would work. Every shoe in the place was a size 4 and I needed a size 11. Finally, I discovered the right shoe and the right fit. I picked them up and an employ stopped me, "Sorry, sir but you do not have any money to buy these shoes. I am going to ask that you put them back."

I was shocked. How did he know I didn't have any money? I frantically searched my pockets and my wallet was not with me. I put the shoes back and proceed back to my apartment. Feeling the sense of urgency I room the distance and return back to the place where my apartment was but it was no longer there. I was now broke and homeless. I was alone.

Wandering the streets, three men appeared beside me, each bearing a striking resemblance to a few Unidiversity ministers. They proceeded to put new shoes on my feet and guided me to a car I had never owned and there in the glove compartment was my wallet and a key. I started the car and then I woke up.

An odd reminder of the importance of the Christian community.

We Are None Of Us Alone

There is a truth that is often overlooked and it is this, we are none of us alone. You and I are connected to one another in every aspect of our being. The air we breath is both the air that is inhaled by you and is exhaled by me. We are not an island or a rock, we are the human race, bound together and every action you and I take does not just affect you and I, but the whole community. Each decision we make affects those around us, even if we do not see the impact until later in life.

Our connectedness is not just in how we occupy the same space, it is in building our lives together, specifically as a Christian community. Everything we do, here in worship, we do together. We sing together in unison, we pray together in unison, we worship together in unison. Everything in the Christian community is about life together. We are none of us alone.

In our scripture passage this morning, we encounter a group of missionaries who are, for the lack of a better word, wandering. Paul, Timothy, and Silas seem to be at a loss as to where to go next. They've been blocked from going into Asia and Bithynia but the Spirit has blocked them. So they find themselves wandering down to Troas, all by God's strange and repeated “no.” During the night, Paul has a vision in which a man from Macedonia stood before him pleading, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

Being convinced that God had called them to proclaim the good news to Macedonia, they set sail for Macedonia. They remained in the city for some days and on the seventh day, they went outside the gate by the river, where they supposed there was a place of prayer; sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there.

A woman, named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to them. Lydia was from the city of Thyatira, in Asia, the very place the Spirit of the Lord barred them from entering. She listened and the Lord opened her heart and when her and her household were baptized, she urged the missionaries to stay with her, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon them.

Paul and his companions have been blocked by the Spirit, in every direction they tried to go and then they find themselves in Macedonia, a Roman colony, and it is by the river, they meet Lydia, dealer in purple cloth. For the first time in the Acts narrative, the narrator has moved from speaking in third person to speaking in first. Instead of saying, “They got up”, he writes, “We got up”. The narrative is no longer just about Paul or his companions, the narrator has decided to join the story, he has decided to become a participant and by doing so, invites each of us in to be participants as well.

Whether this passage is taken from a diary or if the writer slipped up, does not matter. The importance of the language in this story is two fold: 1) we are not in charge of the story. God is. God is the one who moving the pieces. 2) The story is not told alone. We are invited in to participate, to live, and to encounter God with these figures. We are none of us alone.

Lydia is connected to Paul and his companions through God and it is God who connects them to one another. She prevails on them to stay with her, something we only read once before in the New Testament, when the disciples on the road to Emmaus, prevail on Jesus to stay with them. Lydia understands, or at least displays, the overwhelming idea that in our Christ, we are connected. My home becomes your home. My life becomes your life. Your family becomes my family. Everything that was yours is now mine because we are none of us alone.

Paul, his companions, and Lydia (and her household) display for us the importance of being in Christian community with one another. Together, in their own story the show us what community means. It means this: Listening, helpfulness, and bearing one burdens. It means being attentive to those around us and their needs. Paul and his companions listened, not half listening but attentive listening to the call of God. They followed where they believe God called them to go and they sought people out. They listened to the women by the river and in turn the women, specifically Lydia, listened to them. Lydia listened actively to Paul's words and her desire to join them did not end after her baptism.

Lydia becomes an active participant by going and getting her entire household and together they are baptized. She felt empowered to help her household, her family, and her new friends. By urging Paul and his companions to stay with her, she embraces the call of Christian community by offering the smallest of help, her home and her hospitality. In doing so, she takes on their burdens: “Bear one another's burdens, in this way will fulfill the law of Christ.” (Gal. 6.2).

It may not seem like an awe-inspiring story but their willingness to travel to unknown places and her instance for them to stay with her is what bringing forth the kingdom of heaven is really like. It is done in the smallness of being in Christian community with one another. It is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls living life together. These three services are a part of living life together. It is an understanding that every member serves the whole body, in Christian community, contributing to either its health or its ruin, for we are members of one body no only when we want to be, but in our whole existence. This is not a theory but a spiritual reality that is often experienced in the Christian community, in the church, with shocking clarity, sometimes destructively and sometimes beneficially (Bonhoeffer, Life Together pg 92).

We have come to a point in our culture, specifically our Christian culture, where we have chosen isolation over community, specifically, isolation with those who look, talk, act, and think like us. We seek out individuals who share specific interests or have a specific theological viewpoint, inviting them in while exiling the other. A worldly understanding of community is one in which people who are different are removed, while we surround ourselves with like-minded others. Our politics are an example of such an understanding of community. Each party's purpose is to try and fill the vacant seats with as many from their political party as they can. Worldly community is about position of power and holding that power over the minority. The Christian community is the opposite. If one who voted on the Republican ticket cannot worship beside the one who voted on the Democratic ticket, then we are not a Christian community. We are, in harsh reality, a worldly community. Again, let us look at Lydia and Paul.

Paul is a Jewish Roman citizen while Lydia is from an area outside of Rome, a foreigner. Paul was a pharisee and is a Christian. Lydia is a merchant and a God worshiper (whatever that really means). He is breaking every Jewish custom by engaging in conversation with her and he breaks every custom by allowing him and his companions to stay with her. Together, they demonstrate to us what it means to be in this Christian community, that life is lived together, not absent, not in isolation or only with the like-minded. It is lived out with both the weak and the strong. It is lived out with both the natural born and the immigrant. It is a life that understands the importance of the life of their neighbor, because the air that pumps through their neighbor's lungs is the same air that pumps through the Christian's. The Christian life understands that the air her and her neighbor breath is the air given by God. The Christian life therefore sees within his neighbor the God who has given the Christian life. The Christian understands that life is not something lived alone. We are none of us alone.

Bonhoeffer writes, “You are called into the community of faith; the call was not meant for you alone. You carry your cross, you struggle, and you pray in the community of faith, the community of those who are called. You are not alone even when you die, and on the day of judgment you will be only one member of the great community of faith of Jesus Christ” (Bonhoeffer pg 82-83). The entire narrative of Acts is a narrative in which this new Christian community wrestles with what it means to live life together. The disciples and apostles struggle with one another as they work through the impact of the gospel on the lives of both Jew, Greek, Roman, barbarian, and the gentile. We are reminded as Paul and his companions stay with Lydia, of Peter's vision of a sheet being lowered from heaven. We are reminded of how he clings to his rigid law, “Nothing unclean has ever touched my lips.” And we are reminded of Christ's response, “Do not call unclean what I have made clean.” Life together means living in the cleanliness of our Sunday showers and in the dirtiness of our Monday mornings. We cannot live absent of one another thus we must live in the tension of our hypocrisy, no matter how frustrating it can be. We are bound to one another in Christ and to this world.

The call of the Christian life is a call to service. It is not just to serve the fellow Christian but the “un” as well. The Christian community is a “chain that is unbreakable only when even the smallest link holds tightly with others” (Bonhoeffer pg 96). This is why we must come to this universal truth, that we are none of us alone. Strong and weak, wise and foolish, talented or untalented, pious or less pious, the complete diversity of the individuals in the community is no longer a reason to talk and judge and condemn (Bonhoeffer pg 95). This diversity is worth rejoicing in one another's presence and serving one another. The chain that is the Christian community is unbreakable then because the smallest link has another to cling tightly onto. Here, we remind ourselves of the words of Jesus, “Let, the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matt. 19:14).

The smallest link, our children of the faith, can only grow faithfully if there are others who are willing to grow with them. Our children, both in age and in faith, cannot grow if we are absent members. If are not willing to invest in their lives, become a part of their life and allow them to become a part of ours, then we are ignoring the commandment of Christ, “And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me” (Matt. 18:5). If we do not welcome them and do not offer to serve them then we ignore another commandment of Christ in Matthew, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant” (Matt. 20:26); and likewise in John, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:14-15).

The Christian community, the church that permits members within to do nothing, will be destroyed by them. We all need a task to do in this community. We need a task so that we know in times of doubt that we are not useless and incapable of doing anything. We must know that not only do the weak need the strong, but also the strong cannot exist without the weak. The elimination of the weak is the death of the community (Bonhoeffer pg 96). Thus our call is to live faithfully with one another by being fully present with one another. To be fully present means to be fully here, not half way here or longing to leave; but running when the doors open, being the last to leave, and to show up every time there is someone here.

To be fully present means to be fully aware of those who worship beside us. It means to know that in our community of teenagers who believe life is worth nothing more than getting expelled from school. It means to know that in our community are teenagers and children who leave in homes with absent parents, and are in desperate need of mentors who will not be absent. It means to know that an empty ball-field lays waiting for its members to live fully into their potential. To be fully present is to know that this life together means that we are none of us alone.

It is to know that you, me, and the boy or girl with the cigarette and beer in their hand, are deeply connected by the God who gave us Christ Jesus. Let us begin to be fully present. We are none of us alone.