Think Out Loud!

Finding Your Name in the Scriptures

2011-09-01T17:23:00.001-05:00

Our older daughter Aubrey got a New Adventure Bible from our church when she finished third grade. She was so proud of it! We went back to the bookstore to get her name stamped on the front of the pink leather cover. It was near the end of a day and the young employee took it to the workroom, returning shortly to present the book to her with the name “Aubrey Davis” on it (instead of “Aubrey Caldwell”). We have had some laughs about that over the years but at the time it was a disappointment that called up crocodile tears. The store did not have another Bible like it so we had to order one and wait a few days. It finally turned out well but I have always wondered what happened to the Bible with the wrong name on it.

Yesterday, Aubrey told us about seeing a stack of Bibles at Lifeway Christian Bookstore in Sherman that were on the sale table because they had misspelled names stamped on their covers. We reminisced a bit. The odd part was that she knew two of the people whose names were them!

So that’s what happens to them—they go on the sale table and somebody gets a Bible on sale that has the wrong name on it. That has unfortunate implications (like getting somebody else’s mail!) but whatever the name on the cover may be, the inside story of God and God’s people is addressed to the reader—regardless of name or nation. I once heard a preacher say “Our names are written on God’s heart with the blood of Jesus”. Regardless of the name on the cover, the story is meant for you, for me, and for any who will read it, hear it, and take it to heart.

I feel sure that you have a Bible (if not I will give you one!) but I don’t always have the same confidence that you are reading it and know it’s message. The story of the world’s human hurt and God’s healing hope has many complicated turns. The whole saga was told and written across many centuries. It is worth reading over and over! There are many ways to study the Bible and any one of them that gets you to read it is good!

You don’t have to have a fancy Bible. Or even one with your name on the cover. God knows your name! God loves you as you are and hopes that you will grow! Whatever Bible you read from, think of it as a message from God’s heart to your heart.

Proud to be Your Pastor,
Sam

Announcing…
The Pastor’s Place: Beginning September 11, the Pastor is hanging out in the kitchen on Sundays before worship—10:00-10:30 (with a coffee pot plugged in!) If you’re not involved in Sunday School, come have a cup of coffee and talk about that day’s lectionary readings!

Pastor’s Bible Study: Our weekly study will begin Tuesday, September 6, at 6:00 p.m.. Each week, our challenge will be to discover surprises and insights from the four Lectionary readings for the coming weekend. We will look for ways the readings may fit together. Some of these ideas will undoubtedly seep into our sermon for Saturday 5:00 p.m. and Sunday 11:00 a.m. worship services.

Currently I am preaching the sweeping story of deliverance of God’s people found in Genesis and Exodus. I have been following the Revised Common Lectionary which is a guide that gives us a tour of the entire scripture story in three years.

Save this Link: You can find the lectionary readings each week at http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/ . Also, for iPhone users, search the App Store for “Lectionary” (by Crushed Red Pepper, 99 cents)

Driven to Fast

2011-02-26T15:23:00.002-06:00

According to Mark’s first chapter, the Spirit DROVE Jesus to the wilderness immediately after Jesus’ baptism. Strong language! He was DRIVEN to the wilderness to fast, to pray, and to face the temptations that inevitably come with fasting. In my occasional fasting, I have seldom fasted more than one day at a time. I cannot even imagine how hungry Jesus must have been after forty days.

Some of you know what fasting feels like after giving up a couple of meals on Ash Wednesday. For me it has been a gift. After our Ash Wednesday service last year, I sat with some of our brothers and sisters in Christ who had gathered for a “break-fast” meal. I slowly took a bite of a grape. I shelled a roasted peanut and ate one of the nuts inside. Then I took a small bite of cheese. The tastes exploded and the natural foods tasted so sweet and rich! For that time, fasting had given me a new attitude toward food. It gave me an attitude of thankfulness and appreciation.

Fasting made me appreciate the meal. It made me eat more slowly and focus on the people I was with instead of the food on my plate. I savored each bite rather than swallowing it quickly so that I could get to the next one. When I take food for granted, I eat way too much of it. And I lose the gratitude.

Perhaps this is too self-revealing in such a public forum. But I confess that food is often an escape for me, or even an idol! Arrogantly, I have placed a high value on feeling full when much of the world is truly hungry. We have access to the best food in the world and plenty of it. We shop in markets and stores that are so well-stocked that people from other-world countries would be in utter disbelief to see the selection, quantity, and quality of food.

I’ve fasted before and I’ve come to these same conclusions before, but I forget them. Fasting regularly also helps me be more disciplined in other areas. I feel better, breathe better, sing better, need less sleep, and generally feel that I have more time to get things done. I am more attentive in conversations with people and in prayer.

This is not meant to be bragging. I am sharing with you a humble discovery in my journey of faith. It is more a confession of my own weakness. But it is also a new insight into Jesus’ fasting during the forty days we remember during Lent. I had assumed Jesus would have been at his weakest after being famished for so long. As we look at what follows in the desert, Jesus may have been at his strongest point spiritually after his exercise of spiritual discipline. He was hungry. But he was able to decline the temptation to change his loyalties and sell out for the worldly kingdoms. He was able to think clearly and resist the tempter boldly.

The Spirit DROVE Jesus to the wilderness to fast. Not to weaken him, but to give him strength!

Weeding or Gleaning

2009-04-30T09:00:00.001-05:00

Weeding is pulling out weeds and discarding them. It is removing books from my shelf that I had forgotten I had. It is deleting books, here and there, that are outdated or that represent some perspective which I no longer can claim. Weeding is leaving the good and pulling out the stuff I don’t need anymore and probably won’t even miss. This I have done several times. My usual plan is to cull out the books I think I can eliminate and set them on a table in the church foyer to give away to anyone who will use them. Then for several weeks, each time I pass the table in the hallway, my attention is drawn toward the books and, having second thoughts, I end up re-adopting a few of them.

Gleaning is different. Gleaning is going through all the stacks, browsing book by book and pulling out only the ones I select to keep before the others are boxed and sent to Half-Price Books. This will lighten the load much faster. In this mode the default is to let go of everything. And I have to take specific action to redeem something I believe I must keep. But what are the criteria? All my life, I have been a conserving, library type. And not just with books.

It is time for gleaning.

Will I regret this? I don’t think so. So many books I have inherited are great history, reference, classics, theology, seminary texts, commentaries. They are books I kept because I thought I would need them. I thought I would need many of them while in seminary. Most I did not. Then I thought I would need them in the practice of ministry. Fifteen years have passed since I was ordained and started serving as a pastor. Most of the books I did not need. I am probably half way through my active pastoral ministry. I doubt that I will ever need these old books. And I don’t want to leave them as a burden for someone else as they have been for me.

So I turn away from the process of weeding out individual books. And I begin to glean and redeem just the individual books that I must keep. I will let go and recycle all the books that are left. Weeding and gleaning, each one an agricultural metaphor, have different meanings. They have opposite attitudes—one positive and one negative. The approaches are different and have different emotions attached.

This is definitely a time of gleaning. And I guess I better avoid Half-Price Books for a while or I will be buying back books that already have my name in the cover.

God’s Providence

2009-04-08T13:31:00.002-05:00

We are in the middle of a sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer. On a recent Sunday our sermon was on the part of the prayer where Jesus teaches us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” This part of the prayer is about God’s providence.

I used the word “providence” in our sermon on Sunday at 8:30. I was under the delusion that it was a common word and that everybody knew it. After the service I began asking various people…what does “providence” mean? I asked ten people or so before I finally got a reasonable answer (at least a good answer for the way I used the word).

Several people said it was an area. They had the word confused with “province”—like a political area or state—as in a "Canadian province". Others thought I was talking about a city in Rhode Island. Some laughter emerged over this.

But providence means more. Even the city called "Providence" was so-named because its first settlers gave thanks for the providing of God. Providence, RI was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, an English clergyman who was banned from Massachusetts because of disagreements with the Puritans. He believed that God had provided a place for them to settle and so named the city Providence. By the way, I found out that there also are cities or towns named Providence in Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, and Utah. And well, Annapolis Maryland was originally named Providence.

Still, a number of people just couldn’t say what the word meant. Then an answer came. It came from one who sits on the west side of the sanctuary and praises God with the piano keys. When he speaks, I have learned to listen. Nick said, “Providence means that God is working in your life whether you know it or not” and then he added with a grin, “sometimes even whether you like it or not.” Bingo!

Providence means that God holds us close and makes a way and that part of our job is to trust God and be content. In means we can trust God who sees the future and who makes a way for us in the wilderness. The word providence is a noun form of the word provide. It comes from the Latin word providere- pro- forward, + videre- to see. It’s easier to trust God for the future when we can know that God is already there.

I meant to use the word “providence” in relation to God’s providing. The Jesus prayer focuses upon food by saying “Give us this day our daily bread”. But it means more. It means God “sees forward” where we cannot see and makes a way before we even get there. I believe this part of Jesus’ prayer is intended to help us trust in God for our future, no matter what we are going through in the present. This trust in God gives us contentment, even in unsettled times.

God sees all time together—even the future. To God, the future is like a familiar room because God is already there. Jesus wanted us to trust his Father to “provide” for our needs.

Although this is a lovely thought, it does leave some gaping questions. Like…well, Where is God in the suffering of people who are genuinely hungry or needy, whether in faraway lands or in the streets of downtown Pottsboro? That is a hard question. Does God provide to some more than others? Can one deserve (…or not deserve) God’s providence? Some would give the answer that God provides in God’s time. That’s a nice answer, but it doesn’t alleviate the pain of people who are hungry or hurting.

It just leads to other questions…like this one…

“How is God counting on me to participate in God’s providence by helping or giving or feeding someone else?”

Your Pastor,

Sam

Witness Fitness or Flatness

2009-01-26T11:45:00.002-06:00

I remember the early 2000’s (doesn’t that sound weird?!?) when John Scott and Gary Hughes and Ken Zimmerman painted the blue handicapped parking spots on our parking lot. That was the brightest blue paint I had ever seen on the ground. I told them it looked like a helicopter landing pad and we would probably have helicopters landing there! Last night that came true.

I received a late-Sunday-evening call from a member asking “What’s going on at the church?” I didn’t know of anything . “Well, there are emergency vehicles in the parking lot-- an ambulance, a firetruck with bright lights on-- there’s even a helicopter landed there. And it looks like they’re spraying something.”

“I’ll be right there!” I said, hanging up the phone. “Oh great…”, I thought. “The church is on fire.” But even that did not explain why there would be a helicopter.

By the time Cathy, Cammy, and I got here (an eight-minute drive in four minutes) the action was all over. I was relieved to see that the church building looked quite normal with the porch light and steeple lights on and the parking lot clear and dry. I thought (and maybe said out loud): “Someone in the neighborhood was having a bad dream.” We went to the Pottsboro Fire Station.

A police squad car was arriving—an officer with similar questions. Finding three of Pottsboro’s finest firefighters there, we inquired. An emergency medical call was made and a patient needed to be transferred to Life Star. Since we have a large parking area in the center of our community (and a blue heliport!) they had landed a helicopter here and transferred the patient. With a smile and a “Whew!”, I thanked them for their service to all of us and welcomed them to come to the church anytime! As we drove back past Lakeway, I prayed three things: thanksgiving that the building was intact, hope for the patient who was being flown to the hospital, and gratitude for our emergency personnel that we so often take for granted.

As my curiosity (and my heart-rate) continued to subside, I got to thinking how I want our church’s evangelistic and mission activities to draw that much attention. What if people noticed the activity, the bright lights and the spraying. What if we acted like our witness for Jesus Christ is as urgent as getting the best medical help for someone who is in a health crisis?

The church is actually a good place to land on Sundays and take off for another week of witness!

Oh, and what looked like something spraying was probably just dust stirred up from the parking lot as the helicopter took off. Let’s wake up some members and shake up some dust and get going with our witness for Jesus Christ!

The bright lights and landing port just might just draw a crowd!

I’m Hearing Voices

2007-09-25T16:46:00.001-05:00

I cherish rare moments when people pray for me.

I always pray with people. And for them. I believe in it! But it is a real treat to have someone take my hand and pray for me. It happens. When I’m making a hospital visit or I am welcomed into someone’s home, I will suggest we pray at the finish. We hold hands. And then occasionally, (OK, rarely!) just when I draw a breath to speak, the one laying in the hospital bed will address God and begin to pray aloud. Praying for me! Gene Bowling was fond of doing that. It always inspired me.

During our Spiritual Life Revival I got to spend significant time with my friend and brother pastor, Mark Winter. Several times he prayed for me. When I meet with a Clergy Development Group from Texas Methodist Foundation, it’s our tradition to pray for each other—nine pastors of similar-size churches across Texas—and we lift each other between our meetings as well. Whenever I meet with my District Superintendent or other mentors, I cherish hearing their voices and words as they pray for me.

It’s just a few hours ago now. And it was a complete surprise to me. On the last night of our revival, Mark Winter invited your pastors to come to the altar area and he invited you, the congregation, to come up and pray for us. Wow! I melted before the altar and closed my eyes. Soon a hand was on my shoulder and another on my elbow. The warmth and energy of someone occasionally kneeling beside me. And then the voices started. Whispers, full voices, one on my left, another on my right. And then one above me—up higher. Here and there, the prayers overlapped and continued. A cloud of witnesses was all around me, lifting me—as Natalie says—two feet off the ground! Or higher.

I’m still hearing voices. I hope the tradition of praying for your pastors will continue because it changes me and I believe it changes you when you do the praying!

Like that night…Voices and people came and went. Some prayed silently—I could still hear them. I felt so full that tears spilled—cleansing tears. Some voices I recognized and some I didn’t. And it seemed like forever. I’m sure that I heard both my parents. And maybe even Gene Bowling.

Jonah and Balaam

2007-06-19T13:17:00.000-05:00

Jonah failed to meet his call and disaster followed. Balaam failed to obey God by going on with plans God had told him to avoid. This put both Jonah and Balaam in embarassing situations. It is better to obey God.

The ability to obey presumes, of course, that one has heard from God. God cannot communicate well with us unless God has our attention. For Balaam, it took a talking donkey. For Jonah, a disastrous storm and a large fish.

We are in the middle of a sermon series called Jonah's Vacation. Thanks to my friend Tom for the suggestion of comparing Jonah and Balaam.

Thanks be to God for redeeming love that has restored Jonah, and Balaam, and Tom, and me.