Getting Outside of My Comfort Zone

Before starting at Unidos por Cristo, I had only preached three times in a church. Each time I wrote out a full manuscript of what I wanted to say because I wanted to make sure I had the right words and had already wrestled with the Spirit to say the right thing in the right way.

From when I started at UPC June 27 until Sunday, February 6, I wrote out my sermon (in Spanish) for each Sunday and had it proofread almost every single Sunday, especially for vocabulary and verb usage. There were times during my sermon when I'd deviate a little from the manuscript like add another example or intentionally omit a sentence. My husband thought I did a good job preaching from my manuscript without seeming to read it (a skill I've developed simply because I make it a point to make eye contact).

On February 6, I got some feedback from the congregation (beyond the one lay leader who always tells me her opinions): the sermon content is good, but they'd rather hear the Holy Spirit moving than hear the right words come out of my mouth. I needed to make sure I talked about salvation and invited people up to the altar to accept Jesus and pray afterward. They didn't want to hear me read; they wanted to be told the "so what?" - given this Scripture, how then should we live each day?

Sunday, February 13, I gave my testimony of what God has done for me and how I have seen God move in my life. I wrote notes ahead of time and practiced in my head, but at the beginning of my sermon, I took the microphone and stepped in front of the lectern to preach. It went all right. When I got stuck on a vocabulary word or pronunciation, someone helped me out. At the end, I invited folks to come pray at the altar: only one person came up, which happens sometimes.

Sunday, February 20, went better. Again, I wrote out an outline ahead of time and practiced in my head what I felt called to share based on the lectionary readings (Leviticus 19:1-18; Psalm 119:33-40; 1Corinthians 3:10-23; and Matthew 5:38-48). This time I kept the microphone in my hand but stayed behind the lectern - easier to read the appropriate verses in the Bible that way. I don't know that I said everything I'd thought of and I think I repeated myself a couple times, because I didn't know yet what to say next. To begin, I asked them to think of someone who is their enemy, because Jesus talks in the concrete, and then to hear Jesus' words: LOVE that person and pray for them (Matt 5:44). We are the temple of Christ (1Cor 3:16) and there is no room for hatred and bitterness in this temple. You want to know how to live? The list in Leviticus is a good start: don't lie, don't deceive, don't steal, don't swear in God's name, don't slander, don't hate, don't be partial but love everyone. Don't know how to pray for God's help to do that? Try the prayer in Psalm 119:33-40: Lord, teach me, give me understanding, guide me in your paths. Again I sometimes got stuck on a word and someone would help me out. Mostly I stuck to the words and verb tenses in the Scripture passages.

Afterward, I invited folks up the altar to give Jesus their hatreds and bitternesses. I knelt down to pray briefly, as I always do in case no one comes up, and when I looked around, I realized I needed to get up to make more room at the altar rail. As I went around to the other side to pray with each person who came up, I realized I'd never seen it so crowded - the altar rail was FULL. Gloria a Dios!

Dia del Amor y la Amistad (Day of Love and Friendship)

In many Latino/Hispanic circles, Valentine's Day is Dia de Amor y Amistad. I'm not sure how much of the name change is anti-Catholicism and getting away from those pesky saints (St. Valentine) or how much it is just Latin-izing an American holiday.

The ladies' group (technically, United Methodist Women) at Unidos por Cristo meets twice a month, usually for a bible study. Last night was the most recent meeting, and the most well-attended since I became involved with the group. When I started at UPC, the ladies' group was running great on its own. Then, the President resigned at the end of a divisive and heated meeting, although not because of that meeting; her announcement just had poor timing. I met with everyone who was present at the meeting and the vast majority of the ladies asked me to step in and help run the group.

I led the study last night, which was on friendship. It was a study I wrote five years ago when I was in Nicaragua for a missionary ladies' tea one Saturday in Leon. The gist of it is that we were created to be in relationship with each other. God said it is not good to be alone (Gen. 2:18). Yes, there are times when we need alone time, but we were made to live in community; we are not islands. The Bible talks a lot about relationships, from the greatest commandment (Matt 22:36-39) to the great cloud of witnesses (Heb 12:1). It talks about accountability to each other (James 5:16). For most of the past ten years, I have had a prayer partner, someone I regularly meet with to pray. Currently, I'm in an accountability/prayer trio that meets every two weeks.

The Bible also gives great examples of friendship. Before Job's three friends messed things up by opening their mouths, they came to visit him, "to sympathize with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was" (Job 2:11-13). They were simply present with him. The commitment between Ruth and Naomi is another wonderful example: "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me" (Ruth 1:16-17). Another well-known friendship is David and Jonathan, who made promises like "Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do for you" and "Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the LORD, saying, 'The LORD is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever'" (1Samuel 20:4, 42). Finally, there is Jesus' definition of friendship: "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends" (John 15:13). Do you have any friends for whom you would lay down your life?

The final activity of the study, both in Leon and last night in Grimesland, was to write a note to a friend. In Leon, everyone quickly thought of a friend to write to. Last night, I was the only one. So, I suggested writing to some of the ladies of the church who weren't at the meeting. There were six of us ladies at the meeting last night; this morning, I mailed out fifteen cards.

Burnt Offerings

On Sunday, February 6, I preached on being the salt of the earth and the light of the world according to Matthew 5:13-20. The Old Testament reading for that day was Isaiah 58:1-12, a fast acceptable to the Lord being one when you loose the bonds of injustice, undo the thongs of the yoke, let the oppressed go free, to break every yoke, share your bread with the hungry, shelter the homeless poor, clothe the naked, remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, and the speaking of evil, and offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted. It is possibly my favorite Scripture passage and the one that God used to compel me to serve in the mission field. At the end of my sermon, I passed out index cards and pens and asked each person to write down one act of mercy that they could do that week. I promised I wouldn't read them; what they wrote would be between them and God. If they couldn't think of something, then I suggested they write a prayer asking God's help for them to recognize situations where they could make a positive difference for someone else. We collected the index cards in an offering plate and I prayed over them.

After the service, I was trying to figure out how to dispose of the cards appropriately. Throwing them in the trash seemed rather sacrilegious and disrespectful. Burning them seemed most appropriate to me. The youth group meets after church. Why not have them help? It seemed like a great way to involve them in the prayer life of the church and they'd think fire's fun, right? I explained how in the Old Testament the Israelites offered burnt offerings to God, a pleasing aroma pleasant to the Lord. I also explained about confidentiality and made each of the three youth promise not to read any of the cards, even accidentally. We started with one card in the sanctuary, but I could quickly smell the smoke. So we burned the rest of the cards outside in the yard. One youth had kept her card, but upon learning what we were doing with them, tossed hers in the pile. Instead of throwing prayers in the trash, we presented them as a burnt offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.