The Early Bird

... gets the worm. But how does the worm feel?

Yesterday, a beautiful blue jay swooped onto our walk.
I didn't see the worm, and it certainly didn't see the bird!

But there he was, flying off as a big juicy meal.

I thought of this as we did a chapel service at our nursing home.

For this new congregation, chapel services are a mobile way
to meet people where they are.

Drinks and shade on a hot day at the fair.
A morning prayer at the train station.
A weekly service at a thrift store.
A kind word at the park.

A burden shared is a burden lightened.
Whatever people need. Wherever they are.

Our motto is...If people don't come to church,
the church will come to the people.

(Church, of course, is the people, not a building or place!)
So we've got a few locations around the area for 'chapel.'

And as I led a prayer workshop at the nursing home,
I thought of this little, unfortunate worm.

It's like us. We can feel like a little worm.
Not just people strapped to a wheel chair in a nursing home,
but I meet people everyday who feel stressed out
and overwhelmed by the big world around them.

So, in this workshop, we talked about Jesus' on the cross.
He quoted Psalm 22 (reading a Psalm is a good way to pray!)
which says, "I'm a worm and no man."

It's the prayer that begins, 'My God, my God!
Why have you completely abandoned me?'

Jesus said this. Jesus was the little worm.
So, it's definitely ok for us to pray that way, too.

Sometimes people ask me, 'I never complain to God.
How can I pray when I'm mad or disappointed or hurt?'

I think they just did.

Just saying to God what you think and how your feel
is ALWAYS a good step in prayer.

But the second step in Psalm 22 that Jesus prayed
was a fascinating insight repeated nowhere else.

That 'God lives in our praises.'

Part of prayer is saying exactly what we think is going in,
and the other part is stating what we do know about God.

Recall some time in your life when God has helped you or someone you love.

Remember Psalm 23 (The Lord is my shepherd)
or some othe verse you know that describes God
as being trustworthy, faithful, loving or strong.

It's not just like the worm saying, 'What a great view!'
as the bird whisks it away : )

The truth is, both parts of prayer give us peace.
Realizing we are not alone in our struggles.
That our pain is real... but God is more real.

A mountain climber sliced 5 of his 7 strands of his rope.
He was convinced he was about to fall and die
before his friends could get him another rope.

But as he prayed, reconciling himself to God
and to his death in a few seconds, he relaxed.

And by not panicking, his remaining strands were not cut
on the rock... and in two minutes, he was saved.

Even when your life is literally hanging by a thread,
it is always to early to give up and never too late to pray.

This is a great reminder that prayer is not only good
in a crisis... but as a great way to start every day!
Before the crisis begins!

And then, as they say, the early bird will indeed get the worm.

Eggshells

Ever around people that make you behave? Or feel you should?

I call them 'eggshells.' Proper-parlor people.
But I don't walk on eggshells.

I'm more an omlete than hard-boiled type.
You gotta break a few now and then.

But some people don't.

Many people say those types are dull, straight-laced Christans,
but I find them inside and outside the Church.

Lots of do's and don'ts. Buckle up and recycle folks.
Save the wrappers... save the planet.

They say things with a straight face like,
'The insurance company won't let me do that.'

How easily some applecarts are upset.
Heaven help us; we might lose everything
... or anything.

But real church people say, 'Yeah. So what? It's all God's.'

A friend today referred to 'churched people' (positively)
as people who behave.

But did Jesus? Ever?

What does being proper have to do with looking for Jesus
in the face of strangers?

We don't even talk to strangers.
We certainly don't let our children.
(And so we never teach them how to make
strangers into friends when they go out on their own.)

Playing it safe makes a world full of strangers
and makes our world stranger every day.

What does walking on eggshells have to do with chasing
the Wind Blowing, Fire Breathing, Water Walking, Living God?

To me, God is a person who never leaves well enough alone.
Always stirring things up. Always doing something new.
Always jumping out of a perfectly good boat.

If that doesn't sound like any church you know,
maybe you don't know the real Church.

... at least the faith community God's forming here.

Yeah, we need a lot of people who keep things tidy.
But some of those are braver than you think.

Perhaps behind the mind-your-manners, mild-mannered
'behaves' are B-HAVs... big, hairy audacious visions.

Perhaps they know something others only suspect,
that right in front of our frightened eyes is an vision,
largely unseen, of what God will do.

The Resurrection One. Waiting to turn every dead seed,
into a towering oak.

Who'd a thunk it?

An amazingly greater Divine Potential Opportunity in
every moment wants to break through our eggshell lives.

Fragile. Safe. Thin. Crumbly.

So strong we act like we've got it all figured out.
So weak we can't be called an unfair name.
Don't talk to me that way. I might break!
At least I'll break away from you.

So we're left with an isolated society of self-serving,
never-sacrificing, small-minded, myoptic mini-me's.

Perhaps real 'churched people' are the ones who see that.

They grin impishly like they could walk on water.
I recognize people who're alive in Christ
They're different.

They're not afraid to die.
More importantly... they're not afraid to live.

We forgot that from Jesus' death for 300 years
that's what it meant to be Church... a target for death.

To be part of Christ's church was to have everything taken
(or given freely)... just because you belong to God.

Today the Barnabas Fund prays for Christians in Egypt,
Church People who are not allowed to pray together.
Not allowed to work. Not allowed to marry.
Not allowed to move.

We should pray for them. Pray they'll be free.
But we should also thank God for what they see,
a vision of a life worth dying for.

Some want church people to just behave.
To walk on eggshells and act like they're 'safe' or 'saved.'

Saved for what? A rainy day?
Church people are rain makers!
They let God make every day what it can be.

I don't want to be safe. I want to run the bases.
I don't want to be 'saved.' I want to swim the tides.

Church people suspect... that with Jesus we can.
The 'hidden church' knows that's what we do.

I googled 'hidden church' and was pleasantly surprised
to find a friend's blog
thefeatherblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/tillich-and-church.html

Charles and I agree that Tillich's Small, Averse Vision of church
as a SAVed community organization for an eggshell world is not
the hidden treasure God planted to grow out of bounds.

Charles and I often don't agree, but we less often conform.
And it was that egg-breaker St. Paul who said,

'Offer your bodies as living sacrifices to God.
Don't conform to the culture of this world.
But be transformed by renewed minds.
Then you can test and prove what is
the good and acceptable and perfect
will of God.'

Romans 12 sounds NOTHING like
play it safe... behave... go along... act like you're fine.

Only when you've offered your whole little life,
not as a sacrifice that lays down and dies,
but as a sacrifice that gets up and lives;

Only when you hear God's unbelievable words
(which 'incredible' means) and have your mind changed
can you have an inkling of what's 'good and acceptable.'

Proper eggshell-heads think they know.
But here's a hint: it's not your IRA.

We can know. But only when we break out
and lay it all on the line and stretch our wings,
can we test how high God wants us to fly.

Life is not a dinner party where God's serving hors d'oeuvres
and when he comes around with the silver platter we say,
'No thanks, G. I'm stuffed. But how bout some nice Chardonnay.'

God pushes back tables to make room for us to dance!

Church people are often criticized as being hypocrites
for striving for a standard higher than we can reach.
That is a problem if we pretend we can do it alone
or are somehow better than anyone else.

But Jesus says, 'If you want to cower and bury your gifts
and act like you've got it all together and are fine like you are
(which is what a 'hypocrite' literally mean, a 'super-actor')
then you're a stuffed-shirt, stuffed bird...
and don't have the guts to hang with me.'

Whether you're a tough biker or a smart lawyer
(and around here we have both, often in one person),
if you don't have the courage to jump out of the boat
(no matter how nice it is) and walk on water with Jesus,
I wouldn't say that you're weak and dumb,
but you're definitely missing out.

Because one day you will die.
In fact, you're dying right now.
And only Jesus can let you stop dying and finally live.

For church people, eternity begins today.

Because we're following the Resurrected Jesus who
doesn't edge along the shore or walk on eggshells.

But walks on the waves.

Trying Patience

Before kids, we'd eat anytime we wanted.
Anything we wanted. And we'd skip meals.

Now... kids don't just eat every day,
they need regular meals.

And they need healthy, balanced nutrition.
Oh, my!

It seems every moment of our 'free time' is spent
preparing, consuming or being interrupted by meals.

And that tries my patience!

But, of course, it's better to limit my schedule
and see our kids grow into all they can be.

If I let them (and myself!) just eat and do
what they want... we'd never reach our potential.

So it is with starting a new congregation.

We intentionally seek to partner with others.
Our motto is: We're Better Together.

And we're going to pursue that vision.
Even if it takes a little longer.

But many people tell us to focus on ourselves.
They want to see results...
'Get your members. Get your numbers.'

But if we start this congregation focusing on ourselves,
we'll never grow into a congregation that focuses on others.

Our relationships with neighbors and partners,
even those that never think they can 'help' us
must be fed and nourished.

Even if we'd rather just 'get on' with our own agenda.
Even if they'd rather we just 'get on' with our own stuff!

As we develop relationships, we're hopefully modelling
the kind of bloom-where-you're-planted creative mission
we hope our future congregation will embody.

So, we take the time to get to know other churches.
We take the time to find out their passions and gifts.
Not to use those gifts for ourselves but to see them succeed!

My goal is not to discover how they can meet 'our needs'
but what they most enjoy so we can help them to achieve.

Or at least cheer them on.
I want to be proud of my brothers and sisters in Christ!

Because we really are better together.

If we start this new congregation by only focusing on ourselves,
we will create yet another church primarily focused on itself.

Frankly, there are too many of our congregations
that ignore Jesus' clear command that we must
die to ourselves to give birth to our true seeds.

People tell me to wait until we're set to try cooperation.
But the time to cooperate is from the very beginning.

When we intentionally support another group's dreams,
many people ask me, 'What's in it for you?'

The answer is both 'nothing' and 'everything.'

By living out self-giving partnerships, we gain much.
It is our mission to support the mission of others.

That's the self-giving love Jesus demonstrates,
and it's the kind of mission -- from Day 1 --
that Jesus asks us to do here today.

God knows we need to gather people and find a place
to develop partnerships and create our own programs.
But our mission is to demonstrate loving support
among God's family... including other denominations.

That's why I spend so much time learning about the
Episcopals and Catholics, Baptists and Charismatics,
Pentecostals and Independents... and, yes, even
the Missouri Synod Lutherans!

Not to duplicate their work. Quite the opposite.
I don't want to do what they are doing but to
do what they are not doing.

But I want to encourage them to fulfill their dreams.
Every part of Christ's body has an important role to fill!

Encouraging those gifts in others is all this
little new congregation in rural Cecil County can do.

But it is a gift we give gladly!

Even if waiting to understand our neighbors
and to support our partners
and to wait on our friends
takes a little longer or
goes a little slower

... and tries my patience!

We will try patience.

And we will grow together : )