Out of the Blue

I did - though it was a strange one.

You know I've been dithering about churches for a long time. I like the church on the corner and the people are nice -- but, it's never been a place that I know I'd feel a sense of belonging to, as in "I am a member of this community." Then there's the cool pope, the pull of the Catholic Church, and the issues I have with the church.

Here comes the strangeness. I was walking this morning - thinking about things and this homeless woman with bright red hair passed me. She held up a large gold cross that hung around her neck, leaned into me and said, "You're a Catholic! You need to go to church. You need the blessings of the sacraments." She kept talking as she walked away, the wind and the traffic sounds whipping away her words. I said, "God bless you!" and continued on my way. Why would the woman peg me as a Catholic - how did she know I was Catholic when I didn't even know that? Was this some sort of sign, or was the woman just a crazy homeless woman? Did she say that to everyone or was there something special about me. And why had I never seen her before? I walk the beach regularly and I know most of the homeless community here by sight.

So I walk away and I pray, "Okay, God, if you want me to go to mass tomorrow, then I need another sign. Not something I go looking for, something clear and unexpected and out of the blue."

Lorella emails me and asks me how to pray. She's tentatively reconnecting with her Catholic faith and the email was full of that as well. I wondered if this was a second nudge from God, but it wasn't all that unexpected. God has been courting Lorella for a while now. As we are both Catholics who have issues with the Church, it's natural we should talk about that. So, I decided that was not a sign and I would be going to the church on the corner, exploring Protestantism.

Then, Dana and I go to Presto Pasta and I'm eating my Greek salad, bemoaning the fact that pasta is so dang fattening and always leaves me bloated and uncomfortable and Dana pipes up, "If I was to belong to any religion, I would be a Catholic." Then she continues her dance conversation as if she hadn't said that at all.

"You'd be Catholic? Really?"

"I don't know why I said that. It just came right out of the blue." I narrowed my eyes and figured God, if God used such language in tweets, would be LMFAO right about now. Dana continued, "I guess I just identify with Catholicism."

I told Dana the story of the homeless woman and the significance of "right out of the blue" and that I guessed I'd be going to mass tomorrow. "Yeah, go to mass. If I wasn't going to my dad's, I would go with you." Then she paused, looked thoughtful, and said, "You know, stuff like this really makes me believe in God."

Me too, kid, me too.

I Believe in God

Today's sermon cuts to the quick. Belief is my stumbling block and my relationship with faith is, well, complicated. 

The sermon is built on the Apostles Creed - the mere Christianity Lewis wrote about. 

Pattie (guest speaker and retired pastor, said she was raised with a "supposed to believe mentality" whereas we have a relationship with Jesus. That said, these basic beliefs bind us together as a people. 

Eastern Orthodox Christianity teaches that we will never stop learning about God. 

God created everything that exists. Thinking on creation is a great meditation. 

Psalm 136 tells us twenty-six times that God's love endures forever. 

God loves because that's who God is. God's loves is based on nothing. We cannot do anything to earn or destroy that love. 

God loves because God is Love. LORD means, "I AM WHO I AM."

God is our God - our personal God - God comes to be with us. God wants a personal relationship with us. 

God wants a dance of Love - both of us loving and loving fully - for there is Joy, there is Divinity. 

If we love God we will love what God has made (which God loves). This is the same teaching as Bhakti Yoga as a path to enlightenment. 

God is Love and when we allow ourselves to love, God lives in us, and God's love is made perfect in us (1 John 4:12). This also echoes a Lewis reading this past week about our individuality being made perfect in God. God's love is made perfect in us and we are made perfect in God!

God is not just watching us from a distance. God came to us and lives with us and in us. God came near and God is near ... right here, right now. 

God is here. God is near. And God is Love. 

Thought for the Week: What is my life saying to the people around me about Who I believe God is?

Worship -- What an Experience!

Today's sermon is based on John 4:19-24. The story is about the woman at the well. 

Question for the Week: What part of my life do I want to put back on the altar so that I can worship God with my life all week?

This sermon is about what it means to experience church. 

We don't just worship in church. It's not tied to a specific place, time, or people.  Its natural to worship -- it's in our DNA. Worship is to give honor, attention, significance, and value to something. Everyone worships but not everyone worships God.

We worship celebrities. We worship things. We worship routines and schedules. We worship work. We give meaningless things far too much meaning in our lives. 

The woman at the well had one question, "Where do I worship?" We asked that question today. I asked that question this morning. The question underneath this question is, "Where do I go to find God?"

We find God within - in spirit and in truth - God is in us - we are the Temple. 

We take God into the church when God is within us. We worship God everywhere. We don't meet God in church - we take God to church. 

Notes from the Sermon

Today's sermon it titled, The Three Chairs of Easter and the scripture is Matthew 6:33:

Seek first God's kingdom and what God wants. Then all your other needs will be met as well. 

Cool that worry is the focus of the reading when it is worry that drives me here. 

Each of the three chairs represents a decision about Easter. 

First Chair - Represents someone completely sold out to Jesus. 

Commitment 

Personal relationship with God

God is #1 ALL the time

Easter is about the resurrection. 

Bible - I don't get it all the time but I believe and obey. 

Makes decisions based on convictions and what lines up with scripture. 

8% live here. 

Second Chair - A Christian who hangs back. 

Inconsistent

Parental relationship - cultural Christianity. 

At the end of the day - self first. 

Most stressful - it's a constant "What do I do?" "Who comes first?" Both first and third chairs made a decision. This fits in with research about happiness and religion - agnostics have it the worst. 

Easter is a celebration - among a lot of other celebrations. 

I have lots of Bibles and I obey the Bible 85-90% of the time and that's pretty good. 

Bases decisions on counsel from Christian friends. 

77% in this chair. 

Third Chair - A good person who is unsure about Jesus. 

Compromise

Self only - not sure God is real. Doesn't want to be told what to do. 

Easter - Maybe I'll go to church - it will be a good thing and make my family happy. 

I have a Bible somewhere. 

Bases decisions on popular opinion (PC).

15% in this chair. 

 

Notes from the Sermon

Today's sermon is titled, "A Man with a Room" and is based on Matthew 26:17-19, Mark 14:12-16 and Luke 22:7-13. 

The upper room was traditionally used as a guest room - it was like a mother-in-law apartment in a home. It had its own entrance. 

The Passover meal celebrates the release of the children of Israel from bondage. In the same way Communion celebrates our release from bondage. We are Free. 

In this time only women carried water - the disciples were to look for a man carrying a jar of water. 

Jesus knows what's going to happen. When we follow Jesus, we can be assured that everything will work out. 

This man shows us three important things that happen when we say yes to Jesus:

1. I get to make a difference. 

2. I get to use what I have for the good of others. 

3. I get to be a part of God's bigger story. 

We don't know this man's name but Jesus knows his name. Jesus knows my name. 

Often we don't get to see what happens (like Dr. King) but God knows. We just need to say yes and become part of the bigger story. 

Unexpected results happen when we say yes to Jesus. 

Notes from the Sermon

The title of the sermon is "Nobody Knows My Name: Just a Jar of Oil" and the reading is 2 Kings 4:1-7. 

This is the story of a widow whose sons were going to be sold into slavery to cover her husband's debt. Elijah told her to borrow jars - which were miraculously filled with oil she could sell to settle the debt and live on. 

Elijah was a prophet of the people who spent his time with the people. 

When life is empty, Jesus wants to fill it up. When life is hard, Jesus wants to fill it up. 

When we want help from God, turn to the community. 

In this story, the oil stopped flowing when they ran out of jars. God is not limited by anything but me. 

God wants to transform life. 

When I find myself in tough places, the first thing I have to do speak up. If we don't speak up, sometimes we miss the miracle, because miracles happen when God's people pray. 

The way God answers prayer is seldom what we expect - trust in the way God works in our lives. 

We may feel helpless, but only silence will make us feel hopeless. 

After we speak up here's what we do next. 

Look at what we do have. We focus on what we have left, not on what we've lost. 

Be willing to do whatever it takes. 

We often say we'll do whatever it takes as long as it's something we want to do. Something not odd or humiliating. Miracles happen at the intersection of Jesus, humility and obedience. 

God wants us to know that He knows our name, He knows our story, and He has a Hope and a Future for all of us. 

We have to ask Him, we have to let Him, and we have to obey Him. Ask God what He wants to do in me and through me. 

Notes from the Sermon

Hurting today and the title of the sermon is "Patience When Life Hurts."  Praise God!

James 5:7-8, 10-11  Brothers the Lord comes again. A farmer patiently waits for his valuable crop to grow from the earth and for it to receive the autumn and spring rains. You, too, must be patient. Do not give up hope, because the Lord is coming soon. Brothers and sisters, follow the example of the prophets who spoke for the Lord. They suffered many hard things, but they were patient. We say they are happy because they did not give up. You have heard about Job’s patience, and you know the Lord’s purpose for him in the end. You know the Lord is full of mercy and is kind. 

God inhabits the praise of His people. 

Patience means waiting. Waiting does not mean waiting with our arms crossed. Waiting is not passive. One of the greatest helps for impatience is to be busy in our patience. 

We get the idea that life is going to be one way and get derailed when it isn't. We don't know what to do. 

How do I be busy in my waiting? While I'm waiting, I can:

Explore what I believe. Do I believe in God? Do I trust in God? What is my reason to sing?

The whole world is in God's hands and that is a reason to sing. 

There's times of hurt in our life that are SO deep that we feel like we can't go on. James knew that and said to old on. 

Psalm 6:2-3 - Lord, have mercy on me because I am weak. Heal me, Lord, because my bones ache. I am very upset.Lord, how long will it be? 

Job was confused, he didn't understand, but he chose to believe that God was Good and he would trust in God. May I do the same. 

We live a full life if we trust in the Kindness of God. 

While I'm waiting, I can...

Protect my integrity. It's easy to compromise - to rationalize - when we're hurting. 

While I'm waiting, I can...

Find comfort. Sometimes in the midst of hurt, we're wild to fix it, but sometimes that's not possible. 

When we're hurting, it's too easy to focus on the hurt. When we're hurting its too easy to believe lies like neither God or anyone else cares about us. 

2 Corinthians 1:3 God is...full of mercy and all comfort. 

God is waiting to embrace, hold, and love on us. 

Even on the worst day, there are moments of Joy. Grab those moments. 

Connection in the midst of our pain heals. Hurting alone is lousy. Don't hurt alone. 

There's a whole lot of sickness, a whole lot of pain, a whole lot of hurt that has nothing to do with our sin. 

James 5:16 - When a believing person prays, great things happen. 

Prayer is an act of relationship. It is a place to connect with God - not get from God. 

While I am waiting, I can...

Partner together with God. 

Knowing the Truth isn't enough, it's living the Truth that matters. 

Notes from the Sermon

Today's reading is a harsh correction for the wealthy - James 4:13-5:6. Considering that the new year began with a broken computer and a broken truck at D&D Horse Transport, I see myself in:

James 4:13-15 - Some of you say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to some city. We will stay there a year, do business, and make money.” But you do not know what will happen tomorrow! Your life is like a mist. You can see it for a short time, but then it goes away. So you should say, “If the Lord wants, we will live and do this or that.” 

Reflecting is in order with the new year. When we look at the past we are often filled with regrets - I would've, I could've, I should've. 

What keeps me from doing what's right? We all make plans for our lives; but, we must remember to include God in our plans. But too often we want to do it our way. I know I've sometimes fear including God because God's plans are often not my plan. 

My preoccupation with my plans often keeps me from doing what's right. I fear including God will just muck things up. 

But I need to trust that it's the good things in life that come from God. God takes very good care of us :)

What plans preoccupy us? Now it's resolutions - which change just as plans do. When we seek control we fail. We need to not only invite God to be a part of our plans, we need to ask God to do the planning. We can write our plans in pencil but God can write in ink. 

When is the right time to do what's right? It's always right to do the right thing now. If you're willing to set aside your plans to do the right thing right now, then God opens doors. When we do that, I wish I had becomes I'm glad I did. 

How can I know what's the right thing to do? Be open to the opportunities to help. Seek to know God's plan. People can make all kinds of plans, but only the Lord's plan will happen (Proverbs 19:21). 

Ask God for help - ask God for wisdom - God is generous and will never respond with, "How can you be so stupid?"

What does it matter if I don't do what's right? There are sins of omission. Anyone who knows the right thing to do, but does not do it, is sinning (James 4:17). 

Eve's first sin was not eating the fruit - it was not paying attention to God. 

Not doing the right thing separates me from God. 

Where do people see God? In our lives. By doing the right thing, we show God to the world. It's the way God tells the world, "I exist!"