Pastor Page's Pastor's Pages

Get Saved! Feel Good! Go Home?

2010-09-03T08:38:00.000-07:00

I read the following in an article in the New York times recently:

Most clergy don’t sign up to be soothsayers or entertainers. Pastors believe they’re called to shape lives for the better, and that involves helping people learn to do what’s right in life, even when what’s right is also difficult. When they’re being true to their calling, pastors urge Christians to do the hard work of reconciliation with one another before receiving communion. They lead people to share in the suffering of others, including people they would rather ignore, by experiencing tough circumstances — say, in a shelter, a prison or a nursing home — and seeking relief together with those in need. At their courageous best, clergy lead where people aren’t asking to go, because that’s how the range of issues that concern them expands, and how a holy community gets formed. (G. JEFFREY MacDONALD, The New York Times, “Congregations Gone Wild,” Published: August 7, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/opinion/08macdonald.html?_r=1&th&emc=th# )

It really struck a chord with me. Sometimes ministry is way too much about entertaining – I know I can fall into that trap. Sometimes it is too much about minutia and smoothing ruffled feathers. Odd, isn’t it, when the New York Times reminds me of my calling?

Wait a minute! It’s our calling:
• Doing what’s right in life, even when what’s right is also difficult
• Reconciling with one another before receiving communion
• Sharing in the suffering of others, including people they would rather ignore
• Leading where people aren’t asking to go

It’s not a perfect list. It leaves out Jesus Christ – It is a main-stream newspaper after all – but it’s also right, and it’s challenging. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in “church” that we forget why we are really here. We get so wrapped up in our traditions, our meetings, our services, our music, our property, that we forget why we are really here.

Jesus wasn’t a “get saved, feel good, go home” kind of guy! He wanted to free us from our sin . . . so that we could be his disciples. He made salvation easy for us. He made discipleship a tough road: Righteousness; reconciliation, suffering, leading where people aren’t asking to go.

Matthew 7:24-25 (NRSV)
24 "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
25 The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.

How Kids Stay In Church!

2010-08-03T08:36:00.000-07:00

Do you remember Church Camp? I do. What I liked best about it were the things that every kid likes: The pool, the friends, the wilderness, venturing out on my own. But I came away from camp with something more: An increased awareness that I am a loved child of God, and a better understanding of that community of Christians that we call the Church. I had the seeds of faith planted in my home and watered by my church, but it was at camp that I went from a sapling to a tree.

At camp, the gospel was presented and God was worshiped without “stodgy” music, without the sermons and prayers of “grown-ups” that I didn’t understand. Instead, we acted out the parables, sang hip songs about Jesus, and hugged everybody. Even the “grown-ups” were mostly college-aged and the coolest things on two legs. We could call them by their first names! When they talked about faith, I listened. When they demonstrated faith, I imitated. When I was a teenager, one of my biggest dreams was to be a camp counselor. I eventually did it, and since you can’t exactly be a camp counselor forever, I became a pastor. Just call me “Ken.”

When I was in confirmation class, they kept telling us that being a Christian is not just about coming to church and saying your prayers. A Christian needs to serve! When we said, “okay, we want to serve,” they said, “you are too young to do very much.” It wasn’t long after that my church started youth mission trips. They/we discovered that young people could build a Habitat house in a week. Within a few years it was two houses, and then three!

On mission trips, I discovered the joy of serving, the pleasure of hard work, and the character-building of sleeping on the floor and sharing limited showers with 110 dirty people! I discovered that God could deepen my faith, when I put myself into a foreign culture, into hard work and hard floors, and into a profound experience with sisters and brothers in Christ. Mission trips are a big part of why I am a Christian and why I am a pastor today!

We all know some young people: our children, grandchildren, neighbors, friends. One of the best ways that we can pass along the faith is to get these children and youth to camp and/or on mission trips. It’s a little late for camp this year, but we have a wonderful church camp. Montlure has a wonderful property, and even better staff. It’s not too early to start thinking about sending a kid to camp next year.

Orangewood also has some great mission trips: Rocky Point, Mexico; Copantle, Honduras; and a new weeklong mission trip for youth that will likely become an annual event. You could talk a youth into going on one of these trips and maybe even sponsor them, OR you could stretch yourself and come yourself. Our faith is strengthened, not just by Sunday morning worship and weekday prayer, but also in action and in intentional community.

Upon the 20th Aniversary of My Ordination

2010-07-03T08:33:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a great party, and a complete surprise! The twentieth anniversary of my ordination was something that had crossed my mind, but I didn’t really dwell on it – Just another day, month, year of ministry. I’d like to share some highlights with you:

• God has completely turned some people’s lives around, and used me to be a little part of it. Alcoholics, addicts, suicide attempters, kids going down the wrong path, husbands and wives straying, angry people – God is not done with any of us. To be honest, there were times when I personally had no hope for some of these people. I was simply playing a role at times: “How can I represent God’s love?” God has taught me that “With God, all things are possible!”

• Mission trips have played a vital part in my ministry. I’ve led trips to Mexico, Jamaica, Virginia, Florida, New Jersey, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Harlem, Vermont, Maine, Cuba, Pennsylvania and Honduras. It is so easy for us to begin to think that everyone lives the way we do. When we get out of our comfort zone, our worldview expands and God can deepen our faith as well. I have seen many people become life-long Christians and life-long missionaries while sleeping on the floor in a church basement.

• I have been privileged to hold people’s hands in crisis and even in death. That’s a hard thing to do, but it’s also a beautiful opportunity. God’s presence is often palpable in those times of crisis. I have witnessed people of extraordinary faith go through difficult times, and they taught me much about trusting God. I’m sure when my time comes I’ll be whiny and have my doubts, but I’m just as sure that God will love me anyway!

• I’ve been honored to work with some wonderful servants of God. There are many gifts for ministry that I lack, but God has provided partners. At Orangewood I am blessed in partnership with Peggy’s dedication and commitment to all things behind-the-scenes; by Christopher’s musical talent and Southern grace; by Bernale’s passion, wisdom and creativity; and by Tully’s insight and youthful willingness to step outside the box. Add to that all the volunteers, the deacons, the elders, the ministry of all believers and it is clear that God is at work.

• The Scriptures continue to be a wonderful treasure. If you had asked me when I was a new pastor at 24, I would have been sure that after 20 years of preaching, I would have run out of things to say. I would have been right. God taught me that preaching is not about what I have to say, it is about seeking God’s Word. God’s Word is always fresh to those who are willing to read the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.

• God’s people have been wonderfully receptive to my ministry, and always ready to minister back to me and my family. There have been some crises for me and my family over the years, and God has used you as pastors. That is what I will remember most, when I look at the beautiful crystal bowl you gave me, and remember the wonderful lunch put on by my partners in ministry. Thank you!

How about ALL OF US go for another 20!

God Knew What God Was Doing

2010-06-05T08:29:00.000-07:00

I was an impressionist, and she was a realist. In my church in Pennsylvania, my clerk of Session was a very different person from me. I’m all about painting in broad brush strokes and she was all about dotting the i and crossing the t. I’m all about the end product with many possible paths to get there (as long as it’s ethical); she was all about established procedures and rules. There was definitely plenty of reason for us to have clashed.

We never did. Instead, we complemented each other. A broad stroke painter can use someone to cross the t and dot the i. A person who’s all about established procedures can benefit from a coworker who wants to think outside the box. She and I were more together than we were apart – we did better ministry for the church together than we did apart.

What a joy that God created different people with different gifts! While we might sometimes yearn for others who think the way we do, can you imagine a whole church of Ken Pages! Yuck! Even Ken Page doesn’t want to be a member of that church!

1 Corinthians tells us:
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

Let’s value one another with our different gifts. Let’s thank God for one another with our different gifts. God knew what God was doing when he created each of us, and when God gathered us together in this church. The Lord even knows how to use our differences to deepen our walk with God. We just have to let God work in us. We just have to trust. Take some time to look at all the different kinds of people that God put in the world, and give thanks for each of them.

Don't Take the Preacher Too Seriously!

2010-03-18T14:28:00.000-07:00

Some people are taking what I preach too seriously. Is that a weird thing for a pastor to say? Don’t take me too seriously!
I had an epiphany, early on in my ministry, that my job was to preach the Scriptures. More specifically, my job is to preach the Scripture of that particular week. I shouldn’t try to harmonize that Scripture with all Scriptures; I shouldn’t try to harmonize that Scripture with my theology; I shouldn’t necessarily even try to harmonize that Scripture with good theology. Sometimes a Scripture is meant to clash with our beliefs, poke holes in time honored theology, balance other much-beloved Scriptures. Preach the Word! That is my job.
There are at least two problems that come up in regards to this. The first is that sometimes my theology, my biases, even my politics poke through. I try hard not to let it happen too often, but I am human and it does happen. It’s not all bad, when it does happen, though. Don’t take those parts of my sermons as gospel. Rather, take them as “here is one person’s attempt to apply this Scripture.” Then, even my biases can be blessed moments. The goal of a sermon is to help us to apply God’s Word to our individual and corporate lives.
Your application may be different. My application may be wrong! My job is to keep trying to apply the Scriptures and take you along for the journey. Your job is to go on that journey and see where the Holy Spirit takes you with your application of the Scriptures.
The second problem that comes up is that sometimes people assume they are seeing my bias, when what they are really seeing is that week’s Scripture. I don’t always like what I preach! Some of God’s messages are as hard for me to hear as they are for you to hear. I try hard to preach them anyway, and to preach them without too much hedging. Sometimes we just need to let a Scripture be hard! If we try to explain, hedge, harmonize, contextualize, and qualify too much, we wind up saying nothing of value.
If I say something you don’t agree with, so what! If it was just me talking, roll your eyes and move on. It’s also possible that it was the Holy Spirit talking. Each of us is responsible to figure that out prayerfully with God. Sometimes the Spirit wants us uncomfortable, wants us challenged, wants us angry, even. If we hear something from the pulpit that we don’t agree with, we have to prayerfully figure out where it came from. Did it come from the Scripture? Did it come from the Spirit? Or was it just the preacher?
If I say something you don’t agree with, then come talk to me about it, or send me an email. Sometimes I’m wrong, and I’ve been known to admit it. Sometimes people misunderstood or I didn’t make myself clear, and a conversation can clear things up. Sometimes what ticked someone off really came from God, and maybe together we can figure that out.
We Christians are supposed to disagree sometimes, and we are supposed to learn from it! Sometimes we are supposed to come to agreement. Always, we are supposed to come to love!

Romans 12:9-10
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;
love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.

Health Care Fear

2010-01-22T10:24:00.000-08:00

I attended a seminar on Health Care Reform yesterday. One of the speaker’s main premises was that this debate is being largely driven by fear. People are afraid that:
• There will be a government takeover of health-care
• I might lose my good coverage
• The cost will bankrupt the nation
• We will wind up waiting for surgeries like they do in Canada or England
• Medicare will go belly up
It’s hard to refute that fear is playing a big part in this debate on both sides. As I listened yesterday, I was critical in my own mind of fearful people, and so I decided to see what it would take to get in touch with my own fear on the matter.
I have great insurance. That’s one of the things that you and the Presbyterian Church do for your pastor. I was surprised by how quickly I became fearful when I imagined “What if health care reform takes away my insurance?” Whoa!! I need that insurance! I’m a heart attack survivor – who else is going to insure me? Then I imagined, in our current health care system, having no insurance and a kid who needs a major operation. We all know people that are in this boat. I’d be afraid real quick if it was my kid, and no money to give them the best of care. It didn’t take me long to become fearful about this issue. I’m afraid of a change to my health care coverage, and at the same time I’m afraid that our nation will settle for the mess we have currently.
Then the speaker read to us a Scripture passage: “God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7)
As people of faith, we know what to do with our fears. When we are afraid to stay the same and afraid to change as well, we will not become paralyzed with fear. God has given us a spirit of power and of love and of self discipline.
Power! We have levels of power to effect change that are unprecedented in the history of humanity. We have a representative democracy with relatively low levels of corruption. We have freedom of speech and expression. We have unheard of wealth. We are better educated than anyone ever. We can get health reform right!
Love! The love we have been given by God requires us to use the power God has given, not for our own gain; not to protect the piece of the pie we already have, but to perform deeds of compassion and justice for the poor, the oppressed and the down-trodden.
Self discipline! This will require self-discipline. Health Care abilities are so advanced that tough decisions will need to be made about what we cover. Do we pay for a heart transplant for an 80 year old, or do we provide pre-natal care to 3,000 mothers with the same money? These are tough decisions and they will require self discipline.
With a spirit of power, of love, and of self discipline, we can do this. I’m not endorsing a particular health care reform, but I am stepping out to say that what we have now is not working. Americans now spend 16.6% of our Gross Domestic Product on health care, and it is expected to rise to 21% in the next decade.1 In 2007 even before the recession began 19% of Arizonans and 17% of Americans didn’t have health insurance.2 Many of our nation’s poor use emergency rooms as their only health care. This is the most expensive place to receive health-care, and we are footing the bill. We are the only industrialized nation in the world that doesn’t have universal health care.3
We can do better. I’m sure we won’t get a perfect bill, but we must work together (Democrats and Republicans) to get something done. An imperfect bill can be tweaked as we go along. This is a watershed moment in American justice. Let’s not be so afraid that we let it pass.

1. http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/25_NHE_Fact_Sheet.asp.
2. http://www.usnews.com/blogs/erbe/2009/08/20/what-is-the-actual-number-of-americans-without-health-insurance.html.
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_health_care.

Adversity

2009-11-19T10:37:00.000-08:00

First we got held up at the border, and then we had a truck break down in the middle of the Mexican desert. Our Rocky Point Mission trip was not off to a good start! Half of us got about 3 ½ hours of sleep. The other half got 2 hours. Then we had to get up at 5:45 and build a house!

I expected some grumpy, whiny people. It never happened! Everyone worked hard – no one whined – and everyone supported the rest of the group. There is something about adversity that brings out our true selves. The true selves brought out on our trip were pretty great!

However I think something else was going on too. What are the odds of getting 27 people together, ranging in ages from 12 to . . . well . . . much-more-than-twelve, and having all of them demonstrate true mettle in the face of adversity? Even for Presbyterians, that is pretty extraordinary! Come to think of it, it’s pretty extraordinary for this Presbyterian. My true, inner self is not that beautiful, not that strong.

I believe there is also something about adversity that allows God to do some of God’s best work in us. When everything is going great, we don’t allow God much room to work in us. When tough times hit, then God get’s an opening.

I sometimes wonder if the problem with modern America is that we don’t face enough adversity. Hence less and less people turn to God and even those of us in the fold already don’t experience as much deepening of our faith as we should. None of us would welcome more adversity. No thanks! But there are a couple things we can do. The first is to make sure we open ourselves up to God when tough times do hit. And they will! The second is to seek to stretch ourselves, go on a mission trip, volunteer for something out of our comfort zone, go visit a neighbor who is dying, give more than we think we can, whatever. Sometimes God just needs a way in to our lives in order to make great things happen.

The Opportunity of Disagreement

2009-10-12T16:58:00.000-07:00

What do you do when your pastor ticks you off? Or your church? It happens! In fact, it seems to be a maxim that nobody can tick us off quite as much as people we love. If your car mechanic makes you angry, you can just get a new one. If it’s your mom or your kid or your spouse . . . or your sister or brother in Christ, you don’t have that option. The closeness of the relationship means that you are going to really see red for a while.

In preaching on your topics this summer, I did make a few people angry. While difficult, I think that is probably healthy. People wouldn’t get angry if they didn’t care – about the people and about the issues. Our passion for our faith and discipleship is going to engender some strong feelings. I’m probably not doing my job as a preacher if I don’t say enough difficult things that I make everyone angry at some time.

I try hard to preach the gospel. I know that the pulpit is not a place for me to stand and say what Ken Page thinks, but rather to seek to preach the Word of God. At the same time, preaching is a human task. Some of me seeps in, just as some of you seeps in as you listen. Hopefully there are moments of grace when the humanity of each of us meets the Word of God.

While I believe I preach the gospel, not every word I say is gospel truth. Some of it is me trying to share my personal struggle with applying the gospel to my life. Feel free to disagree! Perhaps the application to your life is different. Perhaps you needed to hear a different part of the gospel that morning. Perhaps I’m just wrong!

I promise to work hard to deal with conflict as with someone I love. If you have a disagreement with me, that hasn’t faded with ten deep breaths or a day to think and pray, please let me know. I know we are a diverse group. All of you have experiences and perspectives from which I can learn. Part of being The Church is that we will have full agreement on very little other than the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Every disagreement is an opportunity for us to grow in love and discipleship.

Matthew 5:23-24
23 So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.

What Happens In Me

2009-09-19T14:34:00.000-07:00

What happens in me is more important than what happens to me. I read this statement recently, and it struck me so much that I wanted to share it with you.

For me, it addresses the question “What do I do when someone hurts me?”
“Don’t get mad, get even,” says the world.
“Turn the other cheek,” says Jesus.
“All’s fair in love and war,” says the world.
“Love your enemies,” says Jesus.
“My kid beat up your honor student,” says the world.
“Pray for those who persecute you,” says Jesus the living Christ.

People will hurt me. I cannot change that. Sometimes they will do it on purpose – sometimes by accident. I can choose to seek revenge. I can spend years litigating our dispute. I can spend hours or days or years stewing over the injustice. Or I can ask God to change my inner life.

There is only so much room in me. If I fill myself up with rage, envy, contentiousness, discord, or hatred, there is very little room left for God. I may come to church, sing the hymns, pray the prayers, listen to the sermons, but God will still seem distant. Conversely, if I am filled with the Holy Spirit, that very presence of God that can be within me, there is no room left for the harboring of old injustices.

What happens in me is more important than what happens to me. I have a choice. I can allow the events that happen to me to rule my life. Or I can allow the Holy Spirit within me to rule my life. I choose the later!

I’m not that good at it. I sometimes slip into old ways, but when I remember to make room for the Holy Spirit, that Spirit gives me the strength and courage to be a new creation. With God’s help I can be who God intended me to be.

You and I can live full of the Holy Spirit, or we can live full of bitterness. We cannot do both! Ask God today to empty you out of bitterness, envy, hatred, pettiness, or whatever it is that crowds out God’s presence in your life, and then ask God to fill you with His power and His love. May God bless you richly through the presence of His Spirit.

You Can Take It With You!

2009-08-11T10:31:00.000-07:00

One of God’s gifts to this Church is the faithfulness of people in the past who have donated to the Church’s endowment funds. Those gifts will support ministry in this community out into the unforeseeable future just as God has worked through faithful Christians in the past, helping us to have the ministry we have today.

An expert in Church endowments once told me that the only reason people often leave money to hospitals, libraries and universities in their will and do not leave money to their Church is because the hospitals, libraries, and universities asked, and the Church did not. So here I am asking. If you are in a position to do it, would you consider including the Church in your will? All you need to do is look at what God is doing with money given in the past to know that we will be good stewards of your money, and that your gift will enable this Church to do ministry long into the future. You can designate your gift to a particular area of ministry about which you are concerned, give to the general endowment, or you can leave the discretion up to our Church session for ministries we might never imagine today.

There are other innovative ways that the Presbyterian Foundation can help you to make gifts to the Church. One of them is to establish a charitable gift annuity. In exchange for your gift to the Presbyterian Foundation, you will receive payments for life. After your lifetime the gift, less the payment you received, is used for the Presbyterian mission you select. This manner of giving ensures an income for the rest of your life, has significant tax benefits, and supports your church when you pass.

You can contact the Presbyterian Foundation at 800-858-6127 or look them up on the internet at www.presbyterianfoundation.org .

The worst thing to do would be to let a gift go unmade because of procrastination. 70% of Americans don’t have a will! 50% of lawyers don’t have a will! When these people die, the State will decide where there money goes, and if they have minor children, where their children go! My suspicion is that the reason many of us don’t have wills is that it isn’t fun to think about death. But remember that death does not have the final word for us as Christians! When we die we will live again in the fullness of life which God intended. Let me encourage you to think of a will as a wonderful opportunity to have a ministry after your death. You’ve heard the expression “You can’t take it with you.” I’m telling you that it’s not true. If you invest it right (i.e. give it away) you can take it with you. Others will benefit from your faithfulness for years to come!

Summer Sabbath

2009-06-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

Exodus 20:8-10 Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.

Sadly, we’ve lost the regular practice of Sabbath. Whether on the sixth or the seventh day, the Sabbath was God’s reminder for us to take a break; to rest; to relax; to spend quality time with family; to spend quality time with Him.

We don’t have a Sabbath anymore – most of us struggle to fit in an hour and a half (when you include travel time) to come to church on Sunday. Then it’s off to soccer games, on to yard work, back to the office, off to Walmart. I could preach myself blue in the face, and I don’t think the weekly Sabbath is coming back to American life, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. We don’t have a Sabbath anymore!

But we do have summer. For the ancients, summer was anything but a time of rest and reconnection. It was a time of agricultural labor – hard labor. They worked from sun-up to sundown, and the days are longer in the summer. But we get a bit of a break in the summer. Most of us have a few less meetings, a few less demands, and a bit more time. Most of us get to take a vacation: Another unknown in the ancient world. Although we have lost the practice of a weekly Sabbath, we have another opportunity for Sabbath keeping, and that opportunity is summer.

I invite you to use the lazy days of summer for some Sabbath activities: Take a break, rest, relax, spend quality time with your family, and spend quality time with God. Sabbath is more than just activities; Sabbath is a mindset. It’s a theological mindset that not only puts the feet up, but thanks God for the opportunity to put the feet up. It’s a mindset that lets God rejuvenate the gifts He has given you, so that when you reenter the rat-race, you do it better. It’s a mindset that savors relationship rather than production. Summer is upon us. Will you be better next fall because of it?

Something Greater

2009-05-20T16:28:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I had an enlightening experience in our Orangewood Fellowship Service. The theme of the service was that when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper it is a foretaste of the great supper in the Kingdom of God where we will be reunited with loved ones who have passed away. Prior to communion, we asked each worshipper to sculpt, out of modeling clay, some representation or symbol of a loved one who has gone on before.

I hated it! In the same way that most people have a public speaking phobia (which, clearly, I do not have), I have an art phobia. I’m not good at it, and I have an irrational fear of people seeing my pitiful efforts. It was not a worshipful time for me – my discomfort got in the way . . . Until we began the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Suddenly, I looked around and we were seated at table in the Kingdom of God with our dear departed!

I had made a symbol of my grandmother. Emma, who was seated next to me, had made Duke, our dog of 17 years, whom we had to put down last summer. I looked around the table and saw some widows and widowers. I saw some people who had lost a parent in the last few years. Their art wasn’t that great either, but I was pretty sure whom they had made, and what it might mean to them to be seated at that table. My heart soared! My understanding deepened! My soul praised the Lord!

I had a big say in planning that activity and I knew I wouldn’t like it when we planned it. I kind of figured that so much of what we do is heady, intellectual, sermonic. Perhaps we should do something that might reach a different kind of person: The artsy, hearty, hands-on kind. I figured I could deal with a little discomfort if their worship was enriched with something different. That’s what I thought going in. Turns out God could do something greater than my limited expectations.

We have new projection capabilities in the sanctuary. Some of us are greatly moved to worship through it. Some of us really don’t like it. That’s okay. We’re all entitled to have likes and dislikes. We can deal with a little dislike, though, if it helps us to enhance the worship of a different kind of person: Those who are more visual. That may be the best some of us can do: “It doesn’t work for me, but I’m glad we do it for others.” That in itself is a wonderful Christian attitude. We will sit at table in the Kingdom of God with all kinds of people.

And who knows – maybe God can do something greater than our limited expectations.

It's Not About Me!

2009-03-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

I went home from the December Session Meeting depressed. The Session took action to remove about 50 people from the church rolls. It was the right thing to do. It simply reflected reality – they were not active members any more. It saves us money on our per-capita assessment. But my heart grieved for each of those people. I’m sure God has not lost all of them, many of them must still be people of faith in Jesus Christ, but at least some of them surely are not.
I must admit I was feeling sorry for myself as well. I work hard. I think I’m good at what I do. I care passionately. Why can’t I grow a church? It’s all about me when I’m feeling depressed!
It’s not about me! Don’t come and pat me on the back and tell me it’s not my fault, because I might smack you . . . in Christ. To some extent it’s the fault of all of us! We’ve got a broken model of church, which worked from the ‘50s – 80’s but hasn’t worked since, and we’re still hanging on to it. It’s a model where we do church well and people come to us. We do church well: The campus is attractive, the music is beautiful, the preaching is decent, the programs are solid . . . but people aren’t coming.
We need a different model, and it’s not a model that some guru can simply tell us how to build. It’s a model where we attempt to be the church IN THE WORLD. Some of it will still happen on our campus, but we will have to let the world shape how we present the gospel of Jesus Christ. Much of it will have to happen in the office, the lunch room the playground, the soccer field, the bridge club as we seek, not to invite people to church, but to introduce them to Jesus Christ the Living Lord.
At the February Session meeting, we listened together to the call story of Abraham. We were all struck by how God called septuagenarian Abraham and Sarah to pack up and leave everything they knew to travel to a strange country on the strength of a promise of blessing from God. God is calling the church to pack and move to a strange land. Will we leave a whole lot behind? Yes. Will we know where we are going? No. Do we have a promise of blessing from God? Absolutely!
It’s not about me! It’s not about you! It’s not about the programs! It’s not about the building! It’s not about the music! It’s about the saving grace of Jesus Christ! We’ve got that grace, now we need to decide whether we will hang on to it and hope people will come, or whether we let it compel us into the world to share it.
We’re going to try some new stuff. We’re committed to try reaching out to the youth and their families of our neighborhood, and in the coming year we’re going to get serious about doing it. I’m intentional about that word “try.” This will involve some experimentation. Some of what we do will bring changes that put us out of our comfort zones. Some of what we do won’t be successful. That’s not our job. Our job is to pack and go when God calls us to do it. The success is God’s job! Abraham and Sarah never saw most of God’s promises fulfilled. Those blessings were for their offspring. God want’s to bless us and our offspring.
It’s all about God!

2008-11-24T15:39:00.000-08:00

Whose birthday is it anyway? Yours? No, you’ve got one of those, and you’d probably prefer not to have two per year. Your kids’ or grandkids’ birthday? I’m sure that they would love to have another birthday, another special day that’s all about them, but this isn’t it. Christmas is Jesus’ birthday.

Now is a good time to examine your holiday traditions. Take a look at each of them, and ask the question: “Do they really honor the birth of Emanuel – God with us?” A lot of them do . . . when kept in their place. Jesus liked a good party, too. It honors God for us to get together with friends and family. The Bible even commands feasts for special days. Of course overindulgence has no place on Jesus’ birthday. Presents have their place, too. God wants us to enjoy the good gifts he has given, but spoiled children and months of credit card debt do not honor Jesus. Keep it simple!

Make sure to include the poor in your gift giving. Extravagant gifts for your family, while others starve and go without shelter do not honor Jesus. Keep your gifts to your family within your means, so that you can be extravagant in gifts that truly meet basic human needs. The $239 that you might spend on a Play Station 3 could buy 400 subsistence meals for people in Northern Africa who will die without them. It could pay an electric bill for a family in which mom or dad has lost their job.

Make sure to include advent in your “Holiday Season.” Advent is a time for preparation and expectation. What would you do if you knew Jesus was coming in four weeks? Decorating the tree and baking cookies would move way down on your to-do list, wouldn’t they? You would work on preparing your heart to be worthy of the presence of the Son of God. Advent is a time to do that. If you don’t currently practice daily devotions, now is a good time to start. There are devotional materials available in the back of our sanctuary, and plenty of good ones on the internet. Scripture reading and prayer are a must in preparing for Christ. Daily devotions with your family will help to make sure that your children are expecting Christ more than they are Santa!

May Christ come into your heart anew this Christmas, and may he find you a ready and willing disciple!

November

2008-11-06T09:55:00.000-08:00

About ten years ago, I bought $2,000 worth of a particular stock. That was a lot of money to me back then – it still is. I owned it for about two years during which time its value doubled.

I had a preaching professor who warned me that a pastor should never tell a story in which s/he comes out as the hero. This looks like one of those stories . . . except . . . what I want to stress is that I checked the value of that stock every day. Sometimes I checked it twice a day! Sometimes I would get up in the morning and during the time when I usually do my devotions; I would get online and check my stock. Even when it went up, I worried. Should I sell now? Will it drop? Will it keep going up?

After I sold it, I decided that I do not have the temperament to own individual stock. Investment gurus would say my risk tolerance is low. I put my little bit of investment money in broadly diversified mutual funds, and made a commitment not to check it every day. In fact, I consider it a spiritual discipline to read my quarterly statements, and that’s it.

I broke my own rule last week and checked my investment account when the economic crisis came to a head. (Has it come to a head? I have to write my Pastor’s Page two weeks in advance!!) My little portfolio doesn’t look good! You know what I’m talking about? You do now! Just like you, I wish my risk tolerance had been even lower – as in Treasury Bonds or a hollowed out mattress.

I’m intrigued, though, that in the midst of rotten economic times, there were two very successful banks in a bidding war to buy Wachovia. (Chris Kaup used this metaphor first – I’m just running with it.) Truly successful institutions know that the crisis is the time to take a risk, to do something bold.

The Presbyterian Church is in crisis. We have been bleeding members over the past several decades. We have churches that have closed and many more that seem destined to. Orangewood has grown slightly over the last year, but the tenyeartrend is down about 20%. Statistically it doesn’t end well . . . or last very long. Here I am – your pastor with a low risk-tolerance!

The question is: “Which bank are we?” Are we a failed bank, just using creative accounting to stretch things out a little longer? Are we a sound bank, but one that doesn’t want to take a risk in these hard times? Or are we Wells Fargo – willing to step out and take a risk when the time is right? We have substantial resources of all kinds here at Orangewood. Are we risk intolerant, or are we ready to put them on the line for investment in the Kingdom of God?

Truly, the Kingdom of God does not fully lend itself to statistical analysis or investment metaphors – as if its success is up to us. The Holy Spirit is in charge here. It’s not our job to save the church or the Church or the Kingdom. Our job is to use our resources to join the Spirit which blows where it will in ministry. That’s risky! Especially in hard times, our natural inclination is to circle the wagons, but God wants those wagons headed outward. We have a special opportunity to reach out to a world that is anxious and hurting right now. I have found great comfort and courage in our Lord and in the fellowship of God’s people over the last couple weeks of crisis. This crisis is a great opportunity to bring others to God!

Which bank are we?

October

2008-10-06T09:53:00.000-07:00

A bunch of times since I have been at Orangewood Presbyterian Church, I have been asked:

• Are you okay if the ___________ group reads __________ book?
• Is it alright with you if “they” have a speaker on __________ topic from ___________ perspective?
• Do you have a problem with an adult education class on _____________ taught by _______________?

Almost always, my answer to these questions is going to be “I’m fine with it!” Of course there is such a thing as truth, and God has revealed much of it to us, but there are also many issues where good Christian people differ. I’ll probably veto it when Satan wants to teach a class, or the Thursday morning Bible study wants to study the Kama Sutra, but mostly, I don’t feel the need to rule on such things. I trust you! You have wonderful brains and beautiful souls, and you will not be ruined by hearing/studying/reading about something from a different viewpoint. I do not perceive you as fragile souls that need to be protected from possible untruths. Rather, I view us all as spiritually discerning individuals who will almost always be strengthened and nurtured by a broad range of perspectives.

Actually, one of our strengths at Orangewood is a breadth of viewpoints. We come together in the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the desire to be his disciples, and because of that we can love and respect each other in the midst of differences. I will remind you that since I have been at Orangewood, I have preached on hot-topics as broad ranging as immigration; homosexuality; church and state; extreme poverty; war; “Should We Mess Around with Genes;” and “America – Right or Wrong.”

We’re still here! No one has gouged out anyone else’s eyes. There have been no charges of heresy before the courts of the church.

In a world where some churches have a party line on every issue, we are blessed to sometimes embrace differing points of view. We try hard to be a church where truth is often proclaimed, but also where truth is sometimes humbly sought after by listening to varying views. You are trusted to think for yourself. Your opinions are valued. Hopefully you will be challenged to listen to the perspectives of others and encouraged to test those perspectives against Scripture. Then, pray about it, seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead you and all of us into deeper truth and faith.

Ghost Ranch Preaching Conference

2008-09-10T15:13:00.000-07:00

I debated whether to leave this picture out of my report about my preaching conference at Ghost Ranch. That way, I imagined you would picture me laboring away in a classroom all day. We did do a bunch of that, really! I had forgotten how nerve-racking it was back in seminary days to preach before your peers who usually got their chain-saws running as soon as you got your mouth running.

Our instructors were Jana Childers, Dean of San Francisco Seminary who is also a gifted preacher and stage actress; and Bill Carter, who is a pastor in Pennsylvania and the founding member of the Presbybob Jazz Quartet. Our focus was weaving music and culture into Biblical preaching. Particularly enjoyable were the parallels drawn between jazz music and preaching, as well as the discussions of creativity in preaching. We did preach for each other and it was wonderful to see how many different styles and personalities God can use to convey The Word.

Okay, now that I’ve proven I actually learned something – back to the picture. The best part of the conference was the collegiality: Meals together, hiking to the top of the Mesa, popping a cold . . . um . . . milk. It was a blessing to share struggles and joys, ideas and experience, laughter and pain with others who are on the same journey.

It got me thinking about the church – how so little of what is significant in what we do together happens in an hour on Sunday morning. So much more important is our hiking together: The meals, the watching each others’ children, the pouring of concrete at Rocky Point, the games of Mexican Train, the casserole brought after surgery, and the sharing of a conversation over cold milk.

If you truly want a mountain top experience, find some brothers and sisters in Christ and start hiking!

August plumbline

2008-08-01T15:19:00.000-07:00

As we camped our way to Minnesota and back this summer, there were a number of times I found myself singing “O Beautiful for Spacious Skies.” We definitely saw amber waves of grain; we saw purple mountains majesty; we saw the fruited plains. The mini-van with 105,000 miles on it even made it to the top of Pike’s Peak where Katherine Lee Bates wrote that song.

Along much of the journey, Lori was reading a book to the children and me in the car and in the camper about a family who traveled the same countryside in a covered wagon. We thought about those “Whose stern, impassioned stress a thoroughfare for freedom beat, across the wilderness.”

We visited Mount Rushmore and were moved to consider those who “More than self their country loved, and mercy more than life.” Each time the song would come into my head for these reasons the song would continue into a prayer for our nation:

God shed his grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

I was also taking a vacation from the news. Didn’t read it – Didn’t watch it – for 2½ weeks! And I’m a news hound! I’m sure there are major happenings that I still don’t know about, but I know the kind of things that happened: Soldier killed by IED; So-And-So Criticizes So-And-So’s Stand on Such-And-Such; Tornado Hits Trailer Park In _____; Gas Prices Up, Economy Down; Teens Videotape Selves On Rampage. It’s a fallen world.

Do we remember to pray for our country enough? Pray because America is sometimes a lone beacon in a dark night. Pray because sometimes America is going to hell in a hand basket. Pray because America has people in harm’s way every day. Pray because America has great power, and with that power comes great opportunity for good and for evil. Pray because America is one great experiment in democracy and human rights and righteousness and it’s still up in the air which way that experiment will go. Join in praying for our nation!

America! America!

May God thy gold refine

Till all success be nobleness

And every gain divine!

Honduas - 4/26 to 5/8/2008

2008-05-30T13:21:00.000-07:00

4/26/08
Our flight into Tegucigalpa from Miami was short, just 2 hrs. 20 mins. We forget how close we are to very different places. Landing in Tegucigalpa is quite an experience! On approach, just a hundred feet or so above the ground, the plane makes a sharp bank around a mountain. It looks as if the wing-tip is bound to hit the ground. Then the runway is short – really short! The pilot sets it down right at one end and is on the brakes immediately. Still, there is less than a 100 yards left at the other end. Everyone claps!

Tegucigalpa is full of smoke. Hondurans practice slash and burn agriculture, and this is the burning season. Burning the jungle and the crops is a double whammy for global warming – and not too great for my asthma either! Still it’s hard to blame people who are living so close to the edge of survival.

I had to make a “gift” to get through customs. Not sure if it was a demand or a request, but I hope the tube of antibiotic ointment really was for her niños.

One of the first things we noticed upon leaving the airport was a school bus from Chattanooga, TN. Lots of old school buses from the US find their way to Honduras for use in public transportation. Of course, this was only the first of many means that we were to see that Hondurans have of improving their lot.

We were driven to Villa Gracia, northwest of Tegucigalpa. It is the retreat center for Heifer project and the PC (USA) and it is lovely: Dorm rooms, meeting room, kitchen, two dining rooms and a long porch. The mountain views are beautiful, though smoky. The only drawback is the major road with a steep grade that makes straining engines and jake brakes a regular companion.

Mario Argueta, a professor of Honduran history gave us an introduction to Honduras. A hard man to look at, with a hemangioma covering half his head and body, he has a beautiful soul. He told us that there is a group of well known lawyers on hunger strike right now – protesting corruption in the justice department. They are on day 17! Mario wrote an article in the paper in support of the strike, appearing today. He may face reprisals from the rich and powerful . . . and corrupt.

Poverty has gotten worse in Honduras over the past 10 years, broadening the gap between the rich and the poor, according to Mario. Corruption is a big part of the problem, as are the foreign corporations who own many industries and take a lot of the profits out of the country.

4/27/08
Nine AM found us back in the bus and headed to Tegucigalpa. First we went to Mass at the Cathedral. The priest walked a thin line on denouncing the methods of the hunger strikers (The official position of the bishop), and stating that he knew a country plagued with corruption could never prosper.

Then we took a short walk to the square where the hunger strike is taking place. The strike started with young lawyers from the justice department who are frustrated because they are not allowed to pursue corruption cases against the rich and powerful. A large evangelical church had moved their whole worship service to the square. When we got there, they were singing “How Great Thou Art,” and then moved into “Onward Christian Soldiers.” The police were visible, but not in an oppressive manner. As we lined up to sign a petition in favor of appointing an outside panel to review the files from corruption investigations, the TV media discovered us and before we knew it, we were being interviewed on live national television!

Our next stop was the National Art Gallery. What a rich history is chronicled there: From the impressive Mayan culture, through the colonial period, independence, and finally the modern struggle for development and progress. We learn so little of this in US education!
We continued our walk through Tegucigalpa, with the contrast between the haves and the have-nots being the most notable feature.

In the afternoon, we had a workshop with Norma Mejia from Fundacion Simiente, a non-profit involved in community development. They have developed an innovative manner of community development which starts with grass-roots organization of the community and then moves on to self-assessment of strengths and weaknesses. They partner with Heifer and the PC (USA) on livestock and an innovative type of stove that has reduced fire-wood use by more than 70% and eliminated soot and corresponding respiratory problems from homes which use them. Norma is becoming an internationally known consultant in the field of community development.

After the workshop we got to see one of the stoves and to make tortillas on it. Yum! What a tremendous boon they are to the people for their health and workload and to the environment in slowing down deforestation and greatly decreasing the smoke released into the atmosphere!

In the evening, we were invited to Tim and Gloria Wheeler’s home for wine and cheese. Tim and Gloria work for Heifer Project and the PC (USA) and are supported by us when we give to Presbyterian mission and to Heifer International. Tim is Phebe Packer’s brother, a quiet and gentle soul with a great heart for God and the poorest of God’s people. Gloria is Honduran. Although she grew up in a culture where men are dominant and women subservient, she has learned to speak up and is now a dynamo of advocacy for the poor of her country – especially the women. Both are greatly respected by many Hondurans!

4/28/08
Today was a traveling day, from Tegucigalpa to Copan de Ruinas in the Northwest corner of Honduras, only about 12 km from Guatemala. Only about 100 yards into the trip, our bus broke down. We are thankful that it wasn’t 100 miles into the trip! There was another bus at Villa Gracia, but it is much smaller. We had to tie a lot of luggage on the roof, and put even more in the back seat. Still, there’s enough room for us.

The countryside of Honduras is spectacular, though every view is marred by smoke. Poverty is everywhere. We saw several squatter villages where the houses are made of scrounged materials covered with garbage bag plastic. Others are still living in woven stick huts with thatched roofs.

We had the joy of stopping for a while to visit a village that has been a Heifer Project site for 10 years. They have formed a coffee cooperative of 420 families to market their coffee more profitably. Heifer has provided them with cattle, chickens, bees, pigs and a lot of know-how. To do this, Heifer doesn’t give animals to everyone in the community. They place a few animals strategically, and then the recipients are responsible to pass along the first offspring of that animal to another family in need. The farmer that we visited was so proud to show off their beautiful farm! This coop has clearly taken the philosophy of Heifer, and of Jesus to heart – helping each other and sharing their livestock and knowledge as broadly as they can. The gospel is at work!

The wife of this farmer was in charge of organic fertilizer for the community, ie manure. It sounds funny, but it is a huge deal to subsistence farmers. She gathers manure and composts it with worms provided by Heifer. She has also recently started to place manure in a rubber bladder, which is then hooked to pipes which runs her stove. She is sharing this technology with others in her community.

Finally, we arrived in Copan de Ruinas. It’s the major tourist attraction in Honduras, as extensive Mayan ruins are nearby.

4/29/08
Today was our first day of work. The small bus made the river ford after all, and took us right into Bonete, a small community of subsistence farmers who are “reclaiming” (homesteading) land on a mountainside. Prior to building their houses, they were living in stick huts with thatched roofs. The thatch is conducive to diseases, especially dengue fever.

The leader of their home-building project, Manuel is quite a sickly man. Unable to do much physical work, he made it is mission to bring Heifer and home-building projects to his village. It wasn’t easy. Gloria kept telling Manuel that she didn’t have the budget to build 43 houses. Manuel kept showing up wherever Gloria was working month after month until he finally wore her down and she said “yes” on faith. It reminds me of the story in the Bible where a widow keeps petitioning a judge for justice month after month and he keeps turning her down. Finally he gets sick of her pestering him, so he grants her justice. The point of the Bible story is to keep praying! God has come through to finance the home-building project in Bonete and often he has done it through Presbyterian churches.

We spent the day laying block, learning a new skill and getting half decent at it by days end. The language barrier prevents making deep friends, but a smile translates in any language. The highlight of my day was when Steve and I played Frisbee with Carlos, a 13-year-old who can’t weigh more than 80 pounds, but who has a smile as wide as the heavens. The low-point was watching a woman deck a 4-year-old for crying too loud. Kids here learn early that life is hard!

4/30/08
Today, more work! The block laying gets harder as we must stand on scaffolding to do it. We are working on two houses. The one I am working on had 4 courses of block when we started – now it has 9, which is the height of the roof on the sides. Laying the peak will be harder still. The other house had 1 course and they are now up to 5. We lost some workers this afternoon due to the heat, but nothing too serious.

Joy Lawson’s presence as a nurse has been a blessing to the village. They have an 80-year-old man who fell asleep and fell in the fire. He has 3rd degree burns on his shoulders, the back of his head and his face. Today, Joy debreeded the wound, removing dead black skin and washing the new skin that is coming in underneath. His family was sure he would die, but it looks like he will make it!

Gloria really chewed out Manuel yesterday because not many villagers were pitching in to help us build. Today, there were even less! Something is going on that we don’t know about – maybe it’s as simple as jobs being available in the tomato harvest?

Below: The Blockhead!

5/1/08
Today was a day off from work! We traveled to Copante, which is the village that Tim and Gloria are suggesting that OPC form a relationship with for several years to come. They are trying to reclaim land, (similar to homesteading) but it is a difficult process with 62 legal steps! The have been at it over 20 years and do not yet have title! All that for only 228 acres divided between 24 families – and they are farmers!

They were truly overjoyed that we were there. The whole village turned out for prayer, singing, speeches and gifts. They had decorated the area where we met with cut flowers, palm fronds and balloons (purchased with their own money), and they had also prepared their version of tamales (meatless), and fruit drink from their meager resources. It means so much to them that somebody has noticed them in their poverty and has come to stand in solidarity with them! Blessedly, they have the support of the mayor of the township (Trinidad), and he was there and was excited about our presence.

The people are very poor, but they have more readily adopted social and agricultural reform than have the people of Bonete. The children seem less mal-nourished and better cared for, and more importance seems to be placed on school. Their faith is quite deep and clearly a regular part of their lives.

The houses in Copante are mostly stick and wattle – some with thatched roofs, some with tin. In addition to learning new agricultural methods, they have recently started Tilapia fish farming on a small basis. My heart goes out to the people, and I think it would be a blessing for us and them to work with them over several years. They seem truly eager to make the most out of a hand-up. After having seen their hope at our presence, I don’t see how we could not do it!

Today is Lori’s birthday and I miss her a lot! I’ve already tried twice on the internet and three times on the phone to reach her. Fortunately, it seems I can’t reach her because other’s from the church are treating her to a good time for her birthday. I hope they know that is a gift to me too! I’ll keep trying.

LATER I reached her! She and the kids are fine and now they know that I am too!

5/2
Today, we worked laying block only in the morning. We had even less helpers! We have been told 2 reasons why the villagers are not pitching in like they should:
1. There are jobs available right now in the harvest. Since Bonete’s harvest was not very good, they need the money.
2. They are building the last few houses in the village, and they are down to building for people who did not help others earlier in the project, perhaps even for people who are not well liked in the community. Therefore others are not pitching in.
It seems there may be some truth in both answers.

It is stinking hot and humid today! May 3 is the average date for the start of their rainy season. Hence, today is traditionally the hottest day of the year. I believe it!

In the afternoon, we visited the Copan ruins. What an astonishing site! In it’s heyday in the 700 CE, it was bigger than either Paris or Rome of the same time. 30,000 people lived in the valley. The Mayan civilization spanned about 900 BCE – 800 CE in Copan. The ruins consist of temples built on temples, each ruler building on the temple of his predecessor. There are also ball courts, houses, tombs, ceremonial plazas and the best collection of Mayan sculptures and hieroglyphics in the Mayan world.

We got to go into two tunnels, dug by archaeologists to explore the temples underneath of other ones. What a thrill it must have been to make those discoveries!

The whole valley is filled with Mayan ruins. A man in Bonete pointed out numerous mounds in the village that are Mayan houses and temples. Then he combed through the ground and showed us pottery shards. He has also found several pieces of jade jewelry just under the surface of the ground. Wow!

5/3/08
This morning it was back to Bonete. We were scheduled to work, but it is a National Holiday, the Day of the Cross. Is it a coincidence that it falls on the traditional starting date of the rains, or did the church decide that since it couldn’t extinguish the pagan holiday, it might as well reinterpret it?

Instead of building, we separated our gifts and made packets for each family. I counted out pills. I praise God that I’m not a pharmacist!

Lucy Sherwood has been teaching the women of Bonete some sewing skills and they have been making purses. We bought up their stock and Gloria gave them a lecture about how one half of their earnings must go back into buying more cloth! Otherwise they are out of business.

We had a wonderful meeting with the people of the village of Bonete and their sister village Belle Vista.

Some highlights:
· A talk by the town historian, who explained the recent history of the struggle for indigenous Hondurans to gain rights, land and development.
· Two different trios played and sang on local instruments which were sort of analogous to a mandolin, a guitar and a bass.
· Lucy had taught a woman to crochet, and she showed off her first work and made a gift of it to Lucy.
· The tribal elder of the two villages apologized for the people not being unified on their current building efforts and promised to do better in the future. He also spoke of the importance of giving more status and rights to women. I hope this was more than lip service.
· We passed along a suitcase full of tools to Belle Vista who will hopefully embark upon a home-building process of their own soon.
· We were able to give each family a small bag of medicines and school supplies from the generous donations of our congregations.

On the way back from the village we stopped at the Museum of Mayan Sculpture. Although not the largest of the world’s Mayan ruins, Copan is unsurpassed in the amount of sculpture and hieroglyphics that have been found and studied. The museum is excellent and really helped me to understand more about the Mayan culture. We also met the lead archaeologist, who happens to be from Duke. He discovered the Rosalia temple underneath another temple at Copan. It is from an earlier Mayan era when they sculpted not in stone, but in plaster. The plaster was then painted in bright colors. Enough of the pigment still survives that they can tell the color scheme: Mostly red, green, yellow and white. In the middle of the museum is a life size reconstruction of the temple, complete with paint.

In the late afternoon, we traveled to Chanco, the site of the first building project facilitated by Tim and Gloria. Perhaps the poorest community we visited, the only land they could get was extremely steep mountainous terrain. I can’t imagine trying to build on it, nonetheless trying to farm it! In order to start their building project they had to build a road into their community across very steep mountainside. By hand, they built a 2 ½ mile road – wow! Then, it took the entire community of 27 families 8 days simply to level and dig a foundation for each of the house building sites! Their commitment and their pride definitely showed. Still, their land is quite marginal, and they shared with us that they usually run out of food for about two months every year!

The women of Chanco, whom we met, would never look us in the eye, and were extremely shy about speaking to us. They seem quite oppressed by the men. Under Gloria’s leadership, the women of Chanco have started a cooperative business where they sell used clothing for very low prices. Nevertheless, they have raised about 9,000 Limpera (about $500). They would like to use it as seed money for another business, but they don’t have any ideas yet. Therefore, they’ve been making loans to the men and the men have been paying interest! That’s entrepreneurialism! We were quite moved by both the poverty and the community spirit of this community!

5/4
In the morning we went to the Copan de Ruinas Butterfly and Orchid Farm. It was founded and run by an American Peace Corp Volunteer. He was working with a small indigenous community and was racking his brain for some idea of a business they could start to bring in much needed capital. What he hit upon was the collecting of butterflies and larvae for collectors all over the world. From that, he was launched on a lifelong passion for butterfly collecting which has now branched out into orchids. He is probably the foremost expert in the world on Honduran butterflies and orchids and has a number of publications completed and more in the works. The farm he has set up was beautiful. Not too many orchids were blooming, but the butterflies were fabulous!

The afternoon was dedicated to travel to San Pedro Sula, so that we could catch a flight home.

5/5
Up at 3:30 am – home at 6:40 pm! An exhausting day, but wonderful to see my family at the end of it! The trip has been fantastic. I have learned so much about Christian community and about what kinds of development efforts work, and which ones don’t. If I had to sum up the trip, I might simply resort to the old saying: “Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” The efforts that I saw that truly work over time were the ones which empowered people to do for themselves. This involves the giving of some resources, but much more important is education, community development, hope and solidarity with people living in poverty. These gifts enable them to change their lot in sustainable ways. I’m so blessed by all the participants on our trip, for those who supported us with donations and prayers, and especially to Tim and Gloria Wheeler, truly missionaries for Christ!

May Plumbline

2008-05-08T11:16:00.000-07:00

I have a bad back. My doctors have told me more than once that I need to think in terms of doing my back exercises every day for the rest of my life. I don’t. I do my exercises when my back hurts. I stick with them for a month. When my back doesn’t hurt anymore, I stop. A month goes by and guess what? My back hurts again.

Our spiritual lives can be a lot like my back exercise life. Our faith is well when we attend to our spiritual exercises: prayer, Bible study, worship, tithing, service. But when things are good, we can be tempted to start slacking off. A month or a year goes by and suddenly we find our faith in the gutter, struggling to stay alive.

What works for me and my back? Physical therapy. I’ve been through four stints of therapy now. This last time they didn’t teach me a thing that was new. It just gave me a regular place, a regular time, and regular encouragement to do my exercises. I won’t tell you what it cost! Recently, I have gotten back to doing Pilates. It gives me a regular place, a regular time, and a regular routine to do my exercises, and it’s a lot cheaper!

We have a regular place, a regular time, and regular routine to exercise your faith: It’s called Sunday morning worship – It’s free! But it’s not enough! Of course, spiritual discipline starts with Sunday worship, but how much would you get out of exercising once a week? A little, but not enough. Physical exercise gurus say at least three times a week is good – every day for the rest of your life is better.

It’s always a good time to begin a spiritual discipline. My advice is to find a regular place, a regular time, and regular routine to keep you in it. Our church provides opportunities other than Sunday worship. Take advantage of them! Most of us live in families that provide opportunities – think what you could get out of regular Bible study and prayer with your spouse or your children. We don’t often realize it, but we live in communities that provide opportunity as well. You would be surprised at how many of your friends and acquaintances are spiritually hungry and would jump at the chance to join you in a Bible study or prayer group, if you only asked them. Personal devotions are great, but sometimes it helps to have support.
I’m off to do my exercises.

Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20)

March Plumbline

2008-03-08T11:12:00.000-08:00

IF YOU WANT A BETTER
WORLD
COMPOSED OF BETTER
NATIONS
INHABITED BY BETTER
STATES
FILLED WITH BETTER
COUNTIES
MADE UP OF BETTER
CITIES
COMPRISED OF BETTER
NEIGHBORHOODS
ILLUMINATED BY BETTER
CHURCHES
POPULATED WITH BETTER
FAMILIES,
THEN YOU HAVE TO START
BY BECOMING A BETTER

PERSON.

(Tony Evans)

God wants to use you to change the world!

February Plumbline

2008-02-08T11:11:00.000-08:00

I will not panic! I will not panic! I will not panic! Obviously, it’s a temptation. With David and Toni Page both having left, there is a big void in the staff. They both brought wonderful talents, great personalities, and deep faith that will be sorely missed. We may even wonder how can Orangewood be Orangewood without them?

Of course, we’ve been there before. I’m sure the founding members wondered how Orangewood could be Orangewood without its founding pastor, Pat Patterson. In latter years, it was “how can we get along without Sam Lindamood?” “How can we go on without Bob and Joyce Page?” “What will we do without Brian Paulson?” In each of those occasions, Orangewood found that there were some challenges ahead, but God had wonderful blessings planned through those challenges.
One of the great gifts of the psalms is that they recall the history of God at work with his people. God has called them to be a covenant people. He has saved them from famine. He has delivered them from slavery in Egypt. He has given the law. He has fed them in the wilderness. He has raised up judges to cast out their oppressors, etc. But the psalms don’t usually stop there.

Many of the psalms use that history as a basis for faith and trust in God in the present. They cry out to God for the present crisis, and that cry is partially answered by remembering God’s faithfulness in the past. If God has always seen his people through in the past, God can be trusted to do it again in the near future.

In our personal lives, we have seen that God is at work through the hard times, giving us strength, courage, and faith and helping us to come through stronger and more faithful than we began. In our corporate life as a church we have seen how God has always raised up new leaders, blessing the gifts of ordinary people with the power of the Holy Spirit to guide the church in each new age. Now is the time to trust that God is at work in the present and will bless us through this difficult time in the near future.

I won’t panic. It’s all in God’s good hands!

Psalms 3:3 But you, O Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.

January Plumbline

2008-01-08T10:54:00.000-08:00

The big news in the American church this December was that Willow Creek Community Church said “We made a mistake!” Willow Creek is a mega church that has attracted tens of thousands using marketing based approaches: Figure out what people are looking for and give it to them.

Worship has been made more presentational and less participational, because new-comers are not always ready to participate. Tickets are required for their 12 Christmas Services – you can view a seat map of the Auditorium (seekers don’t know what a sanctuary is), view available seats and obtain e-tickets online (they are free).

Willow Creek bashing has been a popular sport among main-line church leaders. Surely, there was something there that needed to be criticized, but just as surely, some of the disparagement was just jealousy. I’m jealous. Willow Creek has an average worship attendance of 17,500; ours is 260. And they have 4 spin-off sister churches! In some regards what Willow Creek has been doing, has been working! Not too many others have figured out how to get seekers, not only in the door, but to a statement of faith in Jesus Christ!

Now, they say, “we made a mistake!” That’s pretty extraordinary! From their position of mega-success, they have the courage to say “we made a mistake!” This statement comes from a multi-year study at Willow Creek that shows that heavy involvement in the church programs and activities of Willow Creek did not necessarily translate into spiritual growth and maturity. To some extent, that isn’t surprising – their focus has long been on getting new folk in the door. Fostering spiritual growth among those they already had took a back seat.

I’m wondering how we would do on the same test. Does involvement in the church programs and activities at Orangewood Presbyterian Church yield spiritual growth and maturity? As I get to know new members, I meet people at all levels of spiritual development. Some are long-time committed disciples of Jesus who engage in daily devotion and are working for God’s justice in some concrete area of the world. Others are here for the music, or because they want their kids to experience “religion.” None of these are bad reasons. We’re glad to have all of them. The question is, do we move them forward in their faith? Do our worship, our education, our mission experiences deepen our member’s walk with God?

I think the answer is a qualified “yes.” Not from a multi-year study, but from my own personal dealings with members I would say, some are progressing, some aren’t. From my own personal experience with my own faith journey, there are times in my life when I am progressing and times when I am not (Don’t tell anyone, but sometimes I even backslide!). Would there be a way to assess spiritual growth in a more research based fashion? Are we that courageous?

As fun as it is to bash Willow Creek, I think I must uneasily admit that now there are two things we must learn from them.
1. How to attract unchurched people to Christ.
2. How to examine what we do and admit where we are wrong.
After all, we are supposed to be the church reformed and always being reformed!

Ephesians 4:15
Speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.