This Could Be the Best $100 Ever Spent

This past Sunday in worship, we lifted up Sadie Mae Lauer in prayer.  Sadie, you may know, is the 2-year old daughter of Ethan & Erin Lauer who’s been fighting childhood cancer.  Sadie’s parents had gotten distressing news of elevated numbers in one of Sadie’s tests, and they were quite anxious.

Katie Buethe highlighted the work that Anna Lauer, age 7, has been doing to help her younger sister.  Anna staffed a lemonade stand in her neighborhood that brought in over $1400 – and she is helping to organize a CureSearch Walk on October 14. (See http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/sadiemaelauer.) The devoted love of Anna for Sadie Mae was – and is – deeply touching to all of us.

I learned after the service that someone in the congregation gave Katie an envelope to hand to Anna.  When the envelope was opened, Anna learned that an anonymous friend and co-worshiper had given her a $100 bill! Can you imagine the awe that a seven-year old girl felt holding a $100 bill? Anna kept saying, “I can’t believe it!”  She then decided to take the final $6.00 in her own piggybank and add that to all the donations.

So, Generous Giver, the remainder of this note is to you.

I’m thankful to you, Generous Giver, for several reasons. First is your immediate response to the Holy Spirit that nudged you.  Christians, as we say, don’t have good ideas, they get promptings from the Holy Spirit. You listened and you acted.  You were attentive and obedient to that inner voice of extravagant generosity. God bless you.

Another is your anonymity.  As far as I know, the $100 could have been a gift from anyone in the church.  I love knowing that everyone I see here could be you, and that this congregation is full of people who could be the doer of what you did.  I hope I don’t learn who you are, Generous Giver.  I like it better this way.

I’m thankful that you directed your $100 gift directly to Anna.  She is a remarkable girl.  I know I still feel a little bit of awe when I hold such a large bill, so I love imagining what Anna felt.  Your putting that smile on her face and that giddiness in her heart shows your love for children as much as making the donation for Sadie Mae itself. 

And I’m grateful that you have placed this witness of what the church can be in Anna’s heart – and in her parent’s hearts too.  Generous Giver, this becomes part of how these girls will think about the church of Jesus Christ for the rest of their lives. This is a wonderful legacy.  When they each hear people scoff at, or denigrate, or ignore Christianity, I feel sure they’ll say, “Not so fast.  Let me tell you what the church is about.”  And they can tell the story of what happened last Sunday.

You have strengthened our witness for Jesus Christ for years to come.  The Lauers will never forget it, and they’ll tell others.  And it all started with a whisper in your heart!

You’ll be pleased to know, by the way, that the high numbers were the result of a lab error.  Sadie is still cancer free!  But thousands of other children need the love and support you gave.  Thank you.

I’ll look forward to seeing you this Sunday, G.G.  And since anyone could be you, and you could be anyone –

I know I will!

 

Pastor Larry

Jesus is My Candidate

When the program staff and I began thinking of our September sermon series many months ago, we spent a fair amount of time discussing the phrase “Jesus is My Candidate.”  We wanted to lift up the name of Jesus in the midst of an overwhelmingly divisive political season. We also wanted something ‘edgy’ that would attract attention but that also fit the character of the Burke community. We ended up believing that “Jesus is My Candidate:  I Vote for Him Every Day” worked well.

We’re at the half-way point of the Sunday sermon series itself, though we hope the ‘campaign’ will continue in other ways:  social media, road signs, buttons, bumper stickers, and so on.  But the social media response has been surprising.

We purchased the domain name www.jesusismycandidate.com and linked it to our Burke UMC home page.  So far over 30 people have “Googled” the phrase “Jesus Is My Candidate” and arrived at that site; over 500 visitors have come there through other routes.  On that site you’ll find a list of creative and thoughtful ways that people around the world “vote for” Jesus every day of their lives. 

Those who go on to our church’s website visit 3-4 other pages on average, obviously interested in the life of the church in more depth.   This has given our website three times the amount of traffic than usual! People are learning about Burke UMC and its ministries.

Morgan and Katie have also led the visibility of Jesus is My Candidate on Twitter.  As of mid-day today (Thursday), over 500 “tweets” have been posted using the hashtag #jesusismycandidate.  This hashtag #jesusismycandidate has “trended” in areas all over the country – and Great Britain and Japan, among other places – and has even appeared among the Top Ten trending tweets in the US.  Today Morgan was invited to write for the Huffington Post on “Jesus is My Candidate.”

All of this is saying that people find the phrase and the idea compelling.  They want to know more. Sure, it can be misunderstood, criticized and rejected out of hand.  Christians know about that.  Christianity would not exist if Jesus had buckled under that fact.  But it also encourages us to remember.  Remember that politics will not save us. Remember that we are all one in Christ Jesus. Remember that more unites us than divides us. And remember that our deepest allegiance is never to a political party or an economic system, but always to the Kingdom of God.

We’ll conclude our campaign on Election Night, November 6.  We invite you to a Service of Holy Communion that evening at 7:00 pm.   Together we will, as one people, pray for and celebrate His victory.

Pastor Larry

This week’s events in Libya and Egypt are yet another reminder why the proper religious responses to interfaith conflict are respect and humility.  We can be devout believers and still honor sisters and brothers who belong to different faith traditions.  Saying as much is neither an apology, nor a sacrilege, nor treason.

As believers, we’re certainly entitled to a passionate commitment to the truth of our own belief system.  For example, I believe that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a historical fact, not a subjective decision. But it’s by an act of faith that I believe it’s a fact.  Others don’t share that faith.  I also believe that the God Muslims call Allah is the same God Christians and Jews worship, but I don’t believe that the Qu’ran is revelation from our shared God, despite Islam’s claim.  But that’s also my belief by an act of faith.  And as long as faith is a matter of faith, humility before God remains faith’s necessary companion.

There is some significant misunderstanding over the timing of the Cairo Embassy’s statement condemning religious intolerance.  But there ought not to be argument over its wisdom:  The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims — as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions.

Amen.

Many of you know some of the interfaith threads that weave through my own life:

  ·         My grandmother’s grandmother was Jewish.
  ·         My two longest and closest friends are both Jewish.  We met when we were 6 years old and have been friends for over 50 years.
  ·         In my brief college journey out of Christianity I delved into Hinduism.  My path back to Jesus Christ and the ministry was encouraged by my Hindu professor, Dr. Seshagiri Rao.
  ·         My younger brother was in a long-term relationship with a devout Muslim who joined us frequently at family gatherings.
  ·         My older brother has married a Jewish woman and since converted to Judaism.
  ·         (No deep connections with Buddhism other than reading, but my son met his wife in a college Zen Buddhism seminar.  That’s got to be worth something!)

Interfaith respect isn’t just a position I take on an issue.  It’s God’s gift to my life, borne by the lives of people I love.

That’s why I’m honored to be a speaker this Saturday afternoon, September 15, at a Celebration of Interfaith Solidarity at the Rajdhani Mandir Auditorium, 4525 Pleasant Valley Road, Chantilly.  The event is from 4:00 – 6:00.  It is sponsored by the United Hindu & Jain Temples of the Washington DC Metro area and will feature various religious and political leaders from Northern Virginia. It’s open to the public, and I would be delighted if you can come.  Please join me and many religious leaders of our community in supporting the deep faith commitments of the human spirit.

Pastor Larry

Jesus Is My Candidate

Conventions can be exciting events and make for good TV watching.  As a young teenager I discovered books by Fletcher Knebel and read his political novels Dark Horse and Convention (and, of course, Seven Days in May) avidly.  Most of the suspense has gone out of conventions nowadays, but it’s still a spectacle of color and energy, along with moments of high drama and low drama (e.g., Bill Clinton and Clint Eastwood; choose your order).

Ezra Klein wrote recently in the Washington Post that “Parties, and the platforms they produce, often matter more than the candidates.” He argues that party platforms contain the political vision that each party aims to govern by.  The great oratory of one candidate or the fumbling speech of another matter much less than the political philosophy of the party itself. 

The Apostle Paul said much the same thing.  He acknowledged to the Corinthians that he was “untrained in speech” and that others found his oratorical skills “contemptible.” Yet his message was the gospel of Jesus Christ, crucified and resurrected, the power of salvation and the full revelation of God.  Now that was a platform! 

Similarly, I believe that one of the key planks in the platform of Jesus Christ is the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), especially the Beatitudes (5:1-12).  Here is the vision of life in the Kingdom of God.  Here is the shape of the community that God is bringing into being. Blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers.  Blessed are those who mourn and open their hearts to the pain of the world. Blessed are those famished for the realm of God’s righteousness. You shall be filled!  God will win.  And God’s governance will triumph. 

That’s one reason why Jesus Is My Candidate.  He outlines the way to life that far transcends partisan campaigning.  Arthur Boers reminds us, “A Christian’s first loyalty is to God’s Reign, and when that erodes we are in deep, deep trouble.” 

So let’s stay out of trouble.  Join us at any service in the month of September, and help make Jesus your candidate for the highest office in every land. 

 

Pastor Larry

A Deadly Silence

Before our summer sputters to a close, it’s worth noting how often illegal guns were involved in numerous tragedies.  The summer’s news included:

·         On July 20 in Aurora, Colorado, a single gunman killed 12 people and wounded 58 in a movie theatre.

·         Less than 3 weeks later, on August 5, a lone gunman with a 9 mm handgun shot and killed 6 people and injured four others in a Wisconsin Sikh temple.  Among the wounded were police officer Lt. Brian Murphy, shot 8-9 times at close range.  The gunman eventually shot himself.

·         On August 7, Jared Loughner pleaded guilty to shooting and killing 6 people and wounding 13 in Tucson in January 2011.

·         On August 12, 67 family members of the Virginia Tech massacre victims wrote President Obama and Governor Romney, pleading with them to break their silence and present a plan for gun control.

·         On August 24, a lone gunman shot and killed 2 people and wounded 9 near the Empire State Building in New York City.

·         Earlier this week, more than a dozen survivors and family members of the 2011 Tucson shootings outlined for Attorney General Eric Holder their campaign to stem gun violence. Their petition had over half a million signatures.

Every day in the United States, 34 persons are shot and killed by guns.  This is more than a Virginia Tech massacre every single day.  The national death rate by handguns would compare to the entire population of Fairfax being obliterated every two years.

I’m sick of hearing this sort of news week after week.

The petition that the Tucson and Virginia Tech families are proposing is available at www.demandaplan.org.  It calls upon both President Obama and Governor Romney to move beyond “a moment of silence” and propose a plan to curb handgun violence.

The petition doesn’t outline or advocate one specific set of solutions.  In that sense it’s intentionally non-partisan.  Rather, it pleads with both men – one of them surely our President for the next 4 years – to break their deadly silence on this most deadly issue.  We’re not well-served as a nation by allowing our leaders to ignore this problem altogether.  Yet that’s what both men aim to do.

That’s why I’ve signed the petition and posted it on Facebook.  I invite you to do the same.

My candidate, Jesus Christ, said, “Those who live by the sword will perish by the sword.”  And Lord, we are perishing!

Demand a plan.

Pastor Larry

Gas Up!

Any car that starts out on a road trip makes one essential stop before hitting the highway.  The gas station.  You need a full tank before you begin your trip.  The metaphor is pretty apparent:  As this new season of your life begins, do you have the fuel?       What’s in your tank?

 

I just read the story of John Sage and Greg Forsythe, two friends leading a creative business venture whose profits went to help street children in Costa Rica.  Greg, their chief financial officer, was an experienced executive who brought tremendous business skill and mentoring wisdom to the company.  Unexpectedly, Greg was invited to come to Houston to interview for the Number Two spot at Jiffy Lube.  John knew his company could never match that offer financially, but he drove Greg to the airport.

As Greg was getting out of the car, John said, “Just remember the Jiffy Lube slogan.”  Greg looked puzzled.  John continued, “I saw it on TV last night.  Their tag line is, ‘We don’t want to change the world, we just want to change your oil.’” He then wished Greg good luck.

When he returned two days later, Greg had rejected the Jiffy Lube offer.  He returned to their company for a fraction of the pay. Greg realized that his life couldn’t be about the money, it had to be about the meaning.

That’s what fills our tanks – the conviction that we’re doing something important with our lives. Your job may bring you that fulfillment.  You may also want to make more of your life, to add more meaning, to live your life more fully. 

We’re a congregation full of people like Greg.  Our fuel is meaning.  So we teach children, we sing in worship, and we mentor youth.  We go on mission trips, study more intentionally, and give generously. As we grow, we learn to recognize God’s opportunities when they appear.

 

This fall you'll have two opportunities to "fill your tank" with an understanding of the Bible.  Disciple 1 classes will meet Tuesday morning and Tuesday evening. This is the best gift you can give yourself and the world you want to change for the better.

The Apostle Paul praises the God “who fills all in all.” (Ephesians 1:23)  Why not make God your first stop this fall?

Pastor Larry

A Prayer for the Big Picture

I was looking for the word to describe why I’m going to do what I’m going to do this weekend. I discovered it:  multivocal.  (It’s actually pronounced mul-TIV-o-kul.)   From the basic interpretation of “many voices,” it denotes something having different meanings of relatively equal validity. 

Scripture is multivocal. Rarely does a Bible passage have a point. Rarely can we determine the meaning of a word or sentence. The richness of God’s word to us is that it can say different things to us at different times.

This weekend I plan to preach on the same passage that Morgan preached on last week:  Ephesians 3:14-21. I have no quibble with his excellent sermon and no reason to correct what he said. Rather, as our Monday evening RE-Focus group pondered this passage and Morgan’s sermon, we found ourselves going down a different path – one that I hadn’t yet taken from this passage before.   

Paul offers here what I call “A Prayer for the Big Picture.”  He prays these things for his hearers:

·        That they may be strengthened inwardly                               (v. 16)
·        That the love of Jesus Christ will dwell in their hearts          (vs. 17, 19a)
·        That they will grasp the immensity of God                             (v. 18)
·        That they will be filled with God’s fullness.                            (v. 19b)

This can be another way of grasping the Big Picture called Why Am I Here?  When life is fragile and short, what marks time on earth well-spent?  When life is long, what matters most?  When we dwell in the valley of the shadow of death, what do we focus on? 

Paul points us in this prayer to the Big Picture. We’re not here to figure life out – to answer some cosmic question – or just to “do the best we can.” The quality of human life is measured by our capacity to open our hearts to God and experience love.

This is Paul’s prayer for Ephesian people and for you.  How well is your life responding to this prayer?  Do you know the inner strength of God that enables you to be patient – forgiving – thoughtful – and kind?  Do you know you are loved with a love that surpasses all human understanding?  Are you ever bowled-over and awed by the hand of God in the world?  And are you growing in love?  Is your heart becoming fuller as you age, or emptier, or more apathetic and cynical?

Scripture is multivocal.  Familiar passages, read again, will yield new meanings.  I’ll invite you this weekend – at Saturday LifeSign and at Sunday services – to listen again to this familiar prayer.  See if it helps you see God’s “BIG Picture” for your life in a new light.

Pastor Larry