Advent Three

I just turned 81.

(Yes! I know! I don’t look a day over 80!)

And on Jan 21, I will celebrate my 42nd year as pastor of St. Matthew.

So—how did that happen?!?

Well, in 1982, I was a 29-yr-old theology student beginning a second career after teaching.

I needed a church to serve while in seminary. And there was this small, dying church nobody wanted to be sent to.

St. Matthew.

A church off the main drag. No prospects.

I was sent there to close it down—pronounce the “last rites,” so to speak.

But it didn’t die. It began to grow.

By 1989 we were out of room. We had a building program to transform the sanctuary into the glory it is now.

Since I presided over an unlikely recovery, the bishop let me stay. Many bishops let me stay. Having this continuity is what has preserved a church that seemed to have no future.

That—and this. This thing you are reading.

In 1987, we began these “little articles” in papers.

Some 90% of our members come through Friday’s Word.

And everyone knows what they are getting before they get here.

We attract loving and accepting people.

And by the way—I ain’t done yet. I am as excited about ministry as the day I first stepped into a pulpit.

And Christmas at St. Matthew will be glorious.

The Christmas Show is this Saturday night—the 16th –at 6:00. It’s kind of like an old Bing Crosby TV special.

Great music.

Christmas supper after.

And Santa for the kids.

And Sunday morning?

I’m still preaching.

Advent Two

John Cleese (yes, the British comedian of Faulty Towers fame) has a great interest in near-death experiences.

He says he finds that people who dismiss them have not read the literature.

This goes for religious experiences in general.

A grieving father shared this with me:

Remember that fire we had over here last year. My little nine-year-old girl died in that blaze.

She was all I had.

I couldn’t eat or sleep. Couldn’t work. I grieved till I thought I would die.

One day I wandered back into the rubble of the place we had lived. I sat down in the midst of the rubble. The sorrow was heavy on me.

But then I felt a presence—a power—like a million volts of electricity. I felt it could blow up the world, but it was full of love.

The love surrounded me, and I heard a voice.

The voice from the power said, ‘Your little girl is safe and well. She is with me.’ And the power began to let me go. My heart was changed. I still hurt, but I do not hurt like I used to.

I know a thousand stories like that. They point to a personal God who cares about our pain.

But how many such stories do you know?

I was guest preacher in a church some years ago. I talked about religious experiences.

A woman said to me as she was leaving, “Pastor, I’ve been in church all my life. This is the first time I’ve ever heard that God does anything.”

A lot of people believe in a God who doesn’t do anything.

If that’s your God, you’ve been running from reality. It’s time to slow down and take notice.

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Christmas Show, Sat. Dec. 16, 6:00 p.m.

Advent One

Does God intervene in the created order?

Put more simply, does God meddle in our lives?

This, from an ABC report many years ago:

An abusive husband killed his wife and tried to kill his eight-year-old son. The child was stabbed six times but was able to phone 911 for help.

ANTHONY: My dad killed me with a knife, and I am gone.

911: OK, how did that happen if you are talking to me?

ANTHONY: My dad was killing my mom and like, you’re next. And he killed me. But I kind of survived. Can you help?

911: Are you bleeding?

ANTHONY: Uh-huh.

911: Where are you bleeding from?

ANTHONY: From my stomach.

911: Are you there by yourself?

ANTHONY: My mom is dead, and I am the only survivor.

The police found the child covered in blood and rushed him to ICU.

He made a full recovery.

He also made a remarkable claim.

As he lay bleeding, he heard a voice telling him to play dead until his father left.

The child said, “God helped me. He sent his angels. The angels told me to call 911.”

The voice said, “I will save you.”

If all of this is true, we live in a world in which all of us are watched over, cared for.

And from time to time. God is willing to intervene in our lives.

But how does this sit with you? Does this fit your understanding of reality?

Let me know. Send me an e-mail. Does God meddle in our lives?

revmaxb@tx.rr.com

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The Christmas Show

Sat., Dec. 16, 6:00 p.m.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Most people get it wrong.

We sinned, people say, and this caused a separation between us and God.

Not so.

God created a distance between us and God—and this allowed us to sin.

This is clear even in the symbolic language of the story of Adam and Eve.

God places the forbidden trees in the midst of the garden—tells Adam and Eve not to touch them—and leaves the garden.

They must make a choice. To be human is to choose. To be human is to have freedom to choose.

It is the seeming absence of God that allows Adam and Eve to try the fruit.

The Garden of Eden was like heaven. We cannot grow as human beings in heaven—and God wants us to have this human experience.

So, God has placed us here—and given us a little distance.

Like the mother who knows her child will never learn to walk if she carries him all the time.

She puts him down and steps back, watching him at every moment.

This is Kierkegaard’s analogy: He says the mother must be both fully present and seemingly absent at the same time.

The child will fall as he learns. He will get some bumps and bruises. But the child will learn to walk.

Kierkegaard is actually talking about God.

God is always with us.

But God has given us the freedom even to deny God’s existence.

It must be this way—if we are to be human.

If we are to have the freedom to grow in grace and understanding.

We must choose love—in a place where love is not always easy.

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The Christmas Show

Sat., Dec. 16, 6:00 p.m.

Someone wrote me to say: “The only place for women in the church is sitting in pews with their heads covered.”

According to Paul, God doesn’t even see us as male or female, Jew or Gentile. And God doesn’t see people as gay or straight. This from a near-death experience:

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When I got to heaven, I asked about my sexuality. I had been concerned all my life. The angel directed my attention to a large screen.

On the screen, I saw two points of light engaged in intimate relation. The angel asked which was male and which was female.

I said, “I don’t know.”

The angel said, “That light is what God sees, for God sees the soul. Gender is a temporary thing. It will not always be with us.”

The angel said God never makes a mistake in the way we are made.

And God knows how each of us will be challenged and how we will be blessed.

We are called to grow spiritually as we are.

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So—Jesus was being literal when he said we are the light of the world.

Some folks want gay people, women, people of color, immigrants, and many others to put their light under that “bushel” Jesus talked about.

But Jesus told us to shine–all of us. Shine–as we are, where we are.

God doesn’t abide by the labels we put on people.

God doesn’t see Baptist, Methodist, Muslim or Jew—nor American or foreign.

God just sees his children—fighting over labels that don’t count.

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Fun silent auction and bake sale tomorrow—10:00 to 2:00. Come!