Open Wide and Say "Aah"

6th Sunday after Pentecost

July 20, 2014

Psalm 139; Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43; Romans 8:12-25

Open Wide and Say “Aah”

            When I asked a couple weeks ago about what season the church is in (and you’re still welcome to share with me your thoughts), one of the answers I received was that we are in a season of anticipation.  I have to admit I wasn’t expecting that response, but I was encouraged by it, because it means that we’re looking forward to the future, rather than thinking that the “glory days” of this church are behind us.  Anticipation is a complex emotion, because of the anxiety associated with it.  Consider this scenario, and I know we’ve all been there before.  You’re at the doctor’s office.  After sitting in the waiting room for 45 minutes, you finally got admitted back to one of the examination rooms, where you got poked and prodded, had your blood pressure taken, and just maybe been told to “open wide and say ‘aah,’” before having a giant popsicle stuck down your throat.  Now, you’re waiting for the doctor to come in and give you her diagnosis.  You’ve been anxiously waiting for the news for almost an hour, to say nothing of the time you spent before coming to the doctor’s office.  Will it be good news, that it’s nothing to worry about, or will it be bad news, something that will change your life in a rather unpleasant way?  This is anticipation.  Part hoping for the best, part fearing the worst.  Five little words, triggering such a flood of emotions.  “Open wide and say ‘aah.’”

Whenever someone tells you, “I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news,” we almost always want to hear the bad news first.”  So, let’s start by examining the negative side.  Part of anticipation is fear, and that’s why Paul points out that “the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid” [“you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear”].[1]  Fear was part of the old life, part of being a slave to sin and death, from which Christ has set us free.  Unfortunately, it’s a habit that’s easy to fall back into.  Fear is fueled by the news, this week the Malaysian plane shot down in the Ukraine, the week before there was the guy in Texas who shot the family of seven in their own home, killing six of them.  If you did nothing but watch the news, on any channel, you’d be inclined to never leave your house again, except that you’d probably also not feel safe even in your house!  This is why one of the most common refrains in the bible is “Do not be afraid.”  It begins in Genesis with God telling Abram not to be afraid, for he is Abram’s shield,[2] and is found all the way through to Revelation, in the letter to the seven churches, “do not fear what you are about to suffer.”[3] 

Fear is a very common emotion, and it’s part of anticipation because anticipation deals with the unknown.  When things are new they are also unknown, they can be a little scary.  What’s the new preacher going to be like?  Are we going to like her?  Is she going to like us?  What’s the new baby going to be like?  Is he going to be colicky?  Will he be a good sleeper?  (Please, God, yes. [Fold hands and look up.])  There is anticipation about the new thing, and yet not knowing all about it causes a little fear in each of us.  The good news is that Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.  It is I.  I am in charge of the storms.  I am in charge of the new thing.  I am in charge of your redemption and renewal.”  And this is why we have hope. 

When we anticipate a new thing, we always have hope for it.  “For in hope we were saved.”[4]  In the North Carolina Conference, each quadrennium, or set of four years that the bishop is appointed to the conference, the bishop sets a theme based in Scripture.  For the quadrennium running from 2008 to 2012 the theme was “A Future with Hope,” from Jeremiah 29:11, “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”  It was then perfectly fitting when the new bishop announced to lead 2012 to 2016 was Bishop Hope Morgan Ward.  North Carolina did indeed have a future with Hope!  What hope does is to create a “contrast between what is hoped for and the present state of affairs.”[5]  This causes some restlessness with the way things are, because they are not as they could be.  Instead, “hope fuels the imagination for the way things [could] be” and inspires us to work towards that potential.[6]  This is hope. 

And we wait and live in hope of God’s promises.  Going back to Genesis again, Abraham was promised offspring as numerous as the stars, and Sarah was barren.  He had no idea how God was going to work that out, but trusted and had faith in God’s promise.  My senior year in high school, I really wanted to go with a date to prom and felt I had God’s promise that I would, without any inkling how it was going to work out since I didn’t have a boyfriend.  You know who my date was?  My husband.  We met in high school, were friends, went to prom together, and then lost touch in college before reconnecting years later on, of all things, Facebook.  God is faithful and keeps his promises.  That’s why we can have hope in him. 

“In hope we were saved;” we were saved in hope.  In hope of what?  Our redemption, which is something all creation anticipates together with us.  “Creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of God’s children” and “not only the creation, but we ourselves… groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.”[7]  We are waiting to be made new.  We are waiting for our redemption, and all creation waits with us.  The analogy here is pregnancy, we are “groaning in labor pains” as we wait.   And yet we’re not just groaning.  The waiting in pregnancy is an active waiting.  You prepare for the coming baby.  You change your diet, baby-proof your house, buy the furniture and other things you’ll need to care for an infant.  You can’t just sit around doing nothing or go about business as usual.  You actively prepare for the end of the waiting.  And at the same time, we “wait for it with patience.”[8]  

Redemption is not about instant gratification.  Technology has put so many things at our fingertips that there are very few things we have to wait for any more.  Overnight delivery on packages.  24 hour news coverage.  Instant information online.  Microwaves.  Fast-food restaurants.  Credit cards.  In the church, however, we are not about the business of instant gratification.  We work out our salvation with fear and trembling.  We wait for our redemption.  Things rarely instantly happen.  And sometimes we may not even see the results of our work.  Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians about how some plant seeds, some water the seeds, God gives the growth, and others harvest the fruit.[9]  When we’re the ones planting the seeds, we don’t always see what happens to them. 

This anticipating of our redemption is also not a case of “what you see is what you get.”  We only get glimpses now.  Like Paul also wrote in 1 Corinthians, now we see in a mirror dimly, then we shall see face to face.[10]  We don’t see fully and clearly now, our redemption is not yet finished.  We live in between the already and the not yet.  We are already redeemed and not yet redeemed.  We are still anticipating our redemption.  And yet we occasionally catch glimpses in the mirror, we occasionally can distinguish a detail or make out a shape.  And from those glimpses we discern God’s plan for us. 

I will tell you that right now I don’t know what God’s vision is for this church; I’m too new.  But I do know he’s got a plan; otherwise, I wouldn’t be here.  I was asked this past week if I had an agenda, and the answer is no.  Again, I’m too new and it would be artificial and premature for me to place any agenda on you of any kind.  Down the road, as together we discern God’s vision, we will formulate a plan together to bring about God’s kingdom here.  But for now, no, I don’t have an agenda other than to love on you. 

---

[1] Romans 8:15

[2] Genesis 15:1

[3] Revelation 2:10

[4] Romans 8:24

[5] Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol. 3, p. 256

[6] Ibid., p. 258

[7] Romans 8:19, 23

[8] Romans 8:25

[9] 1 Corinthians 3:6-8

[10] 1 Corinthians 13:12

No Condemnation for Those Who Are in Christ Jesus

5^th Sunday after Pentecost

July 13, 2014

Romans 8:1-11

Working Title: (Not) Damned If You Do and (Not) Damned If You Don’t

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  Last week we read in Romans about how we do not understand our own actions.  We do not do the good we know we ought to do.  The bad things we know we shouldn’t do are what we end up doing.  This is the human condition: we are sinful.  And because of our sin we deserve condemnation and death.  However, Jesus Christ rescues us from death.  We are free from condemnation, not because we do everything right, but because Jesus died instead of us and defeated death once and for all by rising again.  “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” 

So, let’s take that a step further: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…,” therefore, let us not condemn ourselves, either.  If God doesn’t condemn us, who are we to condemn ourselves?  We can all relate to last week’s passage about doing things we shouldn’t have done and not doing things that we should have done.  We all sin and fall short of the glory of God.  However, God does not condemn us for our sins.  Holds us accountable, yes.  Consequences, yes.  But not condemned.  Paul wrote this so that his readers could “stop contemplating their sorry state and behold their Lord Jesus Christ, for whose sake God raises the dead to a new life and declares, ‘There is therefore now no death sentence.’”[1]  If you are in Christ, all things are made new.[2]  You are dead to sin and alive to Christ,[3] which means confess your sins, accept forgiveness and whatever repercussions there may be from your sin, and then praise God that you have a new life in Christ.  God does not condemn you.  It was interesting, “condemnation” is a pretty harsh word, and in looking up other bible translations of this verse, I only came across only two out of about ten that did not use the word “condemnation.”  The Common English Version states that “If you belong to Christ Jesus, you won’t be punished.”  No condemnation; no punishment.  And Eugene Peterson’s The Message says that you “…no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud.”  If you are in Christ, you no longer have to live under a black cloud that never goes away.  God doesn’t place you under that cloud.  You don’t have to place yourself under a black cloud, either. 

Now, reflecting back on what’s happened is ok and probably pretty healthy.  It’s good to understand what has happened and why.  I don’t believe in ignoring the past.  There was a New York Times article that came out last year about ten years of research on nostalgia.[4]  Traditionally, it was thought that if you were nostalgic or dwelling on the past, then you were depressed.  It turns out that that’s not necessarily true.  Nostalgia also gives you a sense of your roots, of self-continuity, and hope for the future.  Don’t look at the past through rose-colored glasses and don’t stay dwelling there, but remembering what happened helps you to understand who you are today and can give you strength to go forward.  The good news is that we can use our past failings as a foundation for our ongoing spiritual growth.[5]  No, let me rephrase that.  God can use our past failings to draw us closer to him.  He does not condemn us.  Neither do we need to condemn ourselves.  His power is made perfect in our weakness,[6] if we will turn those weaknesses over to him. 

So, let’s allow some room for grace.  Grace for yourself and grace for others.  Unconditional love.  Before seminary I served for about a year in Nicaragua with a non-profit mission agency.[7]  My theme word for that year was “grace.”  Living in another culture is not always easy and it can be quite easy to criticize other ways of doing things.  Why can’t they have air conditioning?  Why can’t the buses run on time?  Why can’t they do things like we do them in the U.S.??  And each time I’d start to feel critical of my host culture, the word “Grace!” would mentally shout itself in my head.  Grace!  Just because it’s a different way of doing things does not make it a worse way to do them.  This is how this culture works and to not just survive in it but thrive, I had to accept it how it was.  No, not all parts of it are healthy, but neither are all parts of American culture.  However, if I was going to live and serve with Nicaraguans, I had to allow them, and myself, some grace.   

The thing about Christianity is that we do believe in redemption.  Our God is making all things new.  And that includes us: we do believe that people can change.  I’m not sure that’s a common belief in our society today.  We seem pretty jaded that once someone steals, they will always be a thief, or once someone lies, you can never trust them again.  But that’s not what God says.  Who you have been in the past, or even who you are today, does not have to be who you are in the future.  Reputations change.  Businesses and entertainers hire people to rebrand their image and it’s not always a superficial rebranding, either.  Sometimes the culture of the business changes.  There was a restaurant near us in Raleigh, North Carolina, that was run by a family from New Jersey and it was not doing well.  To turn things around, they brought in Jon Taffer, from Spike TV’s show, “Bar Rescue,” to do a makeover.  Jon changed the theme to center around moonshine and the Prohibition Era, which is what gave rise to NASCAR, a sport my husband and I never got into, but very popular in North Carolina, nonetheless.  The family from New Jersey embraced the new theme, learned all they could about moonshine, adapted to their surrounding culture, and the Moon Runners’ Saloon is  now doing a thriving business.[8] 

People can and do change.  Allow them and yourself some grace.  Allow them and yourself some hope.  Allow them and yourself the space to change.  Accept what’s happened and move on.  Tomorrow is a new day and we can only guess what it’ll bring.  We just know the future is in God’s hands.

Finally, we do this work together.  “There is no condemnation for those [plural] who are in Christ Jesus.”  You are never in Christ Jesus by yourself.  You cannot be a Christian by yourself nor are there are self-made Christians.  As a Christian you are part of the body of Christ, the Church, the community of faith.  In your membership vows you promised to faithfully participate in the ministries of the church by your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service, and your witness.[9]  When we all share in the work, when we each share our gifts of time, talent, and treasure, then the body of Christ is acting as it should.  I’ve heard (or overheard) a couple comments about how someone’s hoping I will turn this church around.  Unh-unh.  To borrow from the first Star Wars movie, I am not Obi Wan Kenobi and you are not Princess Leia.  I am not your only hope.  At best, I am a sign of hope, and that is as long as I point to the One who is hope.  I am not going to be the savior of this church.  My family is not going to be the savior of this church.  That job’s already been taken by Jesus Christ.  He alone is the Savior, and if we are willing to follow his lead together, not condemning ourselves or each other, allowing each other and ourselves grace, and working together, then I suspect we just might catch a glimpse of God’s vision for this church and be able to move toward that vision and become what he wants us to become. 

---

[1] Feasting on the Word, Year A, Volume 3, p. 230

[2] 2 Corinthians 5:17

[3] Romans 6:11

[4] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/science/what-is-nostalgia-good-for-quite-a-bit-research-shows.html?_r=1& 

[5] Idea from Falling Upward by Richard Rohr

[6] 2 Corinthians 12:9

[7] http://fh.org

[8] http://www.moonrunnerssaloon.com/wp/ 

[9] UMH 38

One Week

One week in...

We've only cooked dinner once, thanks to the generosity of our parishioners!

The dog has escaped the backyard 5 times, not by jumping over the fence, which we marveled at, since she's 11 years old, but by crawling under a loose piece of fencing.  Fixing this is first on the weekend's to-do list.

I have not left eastern Baltimore County.  I haven't gotten on an Interstate.  I haven't had to put gas in my car.  To make up for my staying local, my husband gets on I-95 daily.

Speaking of my husband, he is home every night!  His arrival time has varied from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Instead of our old Skynet, our new home wireless network is called "The Promised LAN" :)

I've attended one committee meeting, at which a major concern was the score of the Orioles' game.  Unfortunately, the next committee meeting is scheduled for this coming Tuesday during the MLB All-Star Game.  I wonder if attendance will be down or the meeting will be short??

I've met with previous pastors of each church and the current church secretaries. 

I only have a picture of one welcome sign, because the second church is at a busy intersection and so far I've always had my daughter with me.  Hopefully, I'll get a picture of it before it gets changed.

A Church for All Seasons

4^th Sunday after Pentecost

July 6, 2014

Romans 7:15-25a; Matthew 11:25-30

(1st Sunday at Cowenton UMC and Piney Grove UMC)

            A play premiered at the Globe Theater in London in 1960 called “A Man for All Seasons.”  The playwright, Robert Bolt, later turned it into a screenplay for a movie, which won Best Picture at the Oscars in 1966.  It is based on the real life of Sir Thomas More, an Englishman who lived in the late 15^th and early 16^th centuries.  You may be familiar with him if you had to read his book “Utopia,” in school, or as being a Catholic saint with many prep schools named after him, as a Renaissance man who educated his daughters in the same classical tradition the as his sons, or perhaps for his job title, Lord Chancellor, King Henry VIII’s chief advisor from 1529 to 1532.  That was quite a tumultuous time in England’s history, as King Henry sought an annulment from his first wife in order to marry his second wife and in the process declared himself the head of the Church of England, separating from Roman Catholicism.  While others obeyed the king without question, in order to keep royal favor and save their heads, Thomas More believed that his obedience to Christ came before his duty as a royal subject.  For this act of treason, King Henry had him beheaded.  For this act of putting God ahead of King, he became known as a deeply principled man, a “man for all seasons.”  The phrase actually comes from a quote from a contemporary of Thomas More’s, the grammarian Robert Whittington.  He wrote: “More is a man of an angel's wit and singular learning. I know not his fellow. For where is the man of that gentleness, lowliness and affability? And, as time requireth, a man of marvelous mirth and pastimes, and sometime of as sad gravity. A man for all seasons.”[1] 

            In a similar way, I believe you could say that Christ’s Church is a church for all seasons.  Like Thomas More faced each season of his life with steadfast faith and courage and dignity, who the church is doesn’t change with each season, either.  As we sang [will sing] in our middle hymn, “the church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord… from heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride.”[2]  The church is the bride of Christ.  In the communion liturgy we say that “by the baptism of Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection he gave birth to his church.”[3]  This is who the church is.   This doesn’t change.  On Pentecost Sunday, just a few weeks ago, we celebrated the church’s birthday, as the promised Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and the message about Jesus spread to other regions.  Through the apostle Paul’s work, those other regions developed local churches.  And the local church is God’s instrument for salvation, however odd that may sound.  We are all baptized and become members of God’s family in a local church.  You can’t be a Christian by yourself, you need the community of faith, the church, to walk with you.  And those rumors about the church dying?  Hogwash.  God will take care of God’s church, you can trust him for that.   The existence of the church does not depend on us, although together we make up the church. 

            Now, while the identity of the Church does not change, just what each individual church looks like and how it may act will change.  The Church does go through seasons.  Pastors come and go, especially in the Methodist Church, and I am excited to begin my season with you, however long God grants it to last.  Different lay people step up to lead as they are called and empowered to do so, and over time there will be different ways of doing things, just as there are different ways of doing things now than a generation ago.  The mission and vision of a particular congregation may change over time, as it adapts to meet the changing needs of its’ surrounding community.  The fact that God intentionally planted it in a particular community doesn’t change, but how it interacts with that community may well change, just as technology changes and the cars we drive change.  The core doesn’t change, but ways of doing things probably will, and that’s ok.  Our God is the same today as he was yesterday and will be tomorrow, and yet sometimes he calls us to new things.  My family’s move to Maryland is one of those new things.  I was a pastor before and I am still a pastor, but the local context where I pastor has changed.  We still worship the same God, now we’re doing so with a different congregation.  Nothing was wrong with the old place, God just called us to something new. 

So remember, as the church goes through seasons, it does not mean changing who you are.  It does not mean changing traditions that are life-giving.  It does not mean not honoring the past and those who have come before.  Cowenton [Piney Grove] has a rich history full of the saints of God who loved to do his will.  And there are many saints here now, continuing to seek and do his will.  The roots of the Church are staying put, as they are grounded firmly in Christ.  God has been active here, is active here, and will continue to be active here, no matter what happens.  God planted this church here for a reason and we are still living into that call and becoming what God wants Cowenton [Piney Grove] to become.  As Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians, God has already begun a good work in you, and he is faithful and will see it to completion.[4] 

            The question I have for you this morning, and I’d love to hear your reflections on it in the coming weeks and months, is: What season are we in now?  There are different ways to answer the question.  One answer is that we’re in a time for rest, a time for shared burdens, and a time for learning from Jesus.  According to ancient Jewish tradition, “yoke” refers to teaching and instruction in wisdom.[5]  And wisdom that is born of enlightenment, renewal, and reorientation lightens, rather than burdens the soul.[6]  So perhaps we’re in for a time of learning, too.  The other thing about a yoke is much more practical and that is that it’s meant for two.  The burden you carry with a yoke you do not carry by yourself.  Christ’s yoke is born by all of us; it is a load and learning that we share together. 

            One final way to consider what season we’re in is to remember the liturgical seasons of the church.  Right now, we’re in the season after Pentecost, or Ordinary Time.  There is nothing special about this season liturgically speaking.  However, at a spiritual formation retreat I attended a while back, the author Robert Benson suggested that we consider the current season of our lives in terms of the liturgical seasons.  Are you in Advent, a season of waiting and preparation?  Are you currently in a time of rejoicing at a great gift, such as during Christmastime?  Or are you in Epiphany, having learned or realized something life-changing?  Lent is not a fun time to be in, and yet sometimes we are there as well, in a season of pruning and discipline and waiting for the coming resurrection in the Easter season.  What season are we in as a church?  I’ll tell you that personally, I’ve been in Advent all spring, waiting and preparing for this move and still waiting for this baby to be born.  That’s where I am.  Where are you?  And where do you discern that we are as a church? 

            What has changed?  And what are the core pieces of this church that will not change?  My first appointment was a Hispanic church, and moving from there to my second appointment was so different, that I actually made a list of which things were the same.  All but one item on that list is the same for serving here as well: We still serve the same triune God.  We are still United Methodist.  I am still a pastor and still serving part-time.  I will probably still get up at 6 a.m. on Sunday morning.  The one difference is that I am no longer in North Carolina.  However, if we compare this appointment and my previous one, I am still leading worship and preaching in English and still doing so at multiple services on Sunday morning.  I will still seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.  I will still be working toward catching glimpses of that kingdom here on earth.  And I will still be working towards meeting the physical and spiritual needs of my surrounding community; just the local setting is different. 

Finally, a word about that change in local setting.  A few people in North Carolina commented that our move to Maryland was uprooting our family.  However, in following Jesus’ call to Maryland, I don’t feel like we uprooted our family.  We are not pulling out our roots in North Carolina.  Our family in North Carolina will continue to be our family.  My previous appointment will continue to be the place where my daughter was baptized and became part of God’s family.  That is all staying the same.  Following Jesus’ call here doesn’t mean we uprooted or cut old ties; it means we’re planting new roots here in this community.  It doesn’t mean there was anything wrong with the old roots, or what we were doing before; it was just time to add some new roots.  It was time for some change.  The church goes through seasons; that’s normal. 

I mentioned earlier that I’d like to hear your reflections on the current season of Cowenton [Piney Grove], and I’m serious.  My contact information is in the bulletin, whether you want to call me, email me, stop by, invite me over, whatever, I’d love to hear your thoughts. The schedule I intend to keep for these next few weeks is to visit in the morning and take naps and prepare for Sunday in the afternoon.  So, what season are we in now?  Whatever one it is, rest assured that God is there, too.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

---

[1] http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/politics/pg0078.html

[2] “The Church’s One Foundation,” UMH 545

[3] A Service of Word and Table II, UMH 13

[4] Philippians 1:6

[5] Feasting on the Gospels: Matthew, Vol. I, p. 301.

[6] Ibid.

Moving

21 years ago this month I moved from MD to NC with my parents and sisters.  This week I moved back, with a husband, a daughter, a dog, and a son "to be named later."  I haven't always lived in NC these 21 years, but I kept my residency here.  As a young adult, moving and traveling, it was just easier.

While MD isn't really "the North," it is to Southerners, because it's not "the South."  Here's what I've learned during 21 years of residency in "the South":

1. I LOVE sweet tea and will desperately miss it.  However, not drinking those calories might make it easier to lose weight post-pregnancy??

2. Air conditioning and ceiling fans are a must.  Period.  And I'm not just saying that because I'm pregnant.

3. I've learned to do it, but it still feels weird to park on the grass.  This is the overflow parking at this year's NC Annual Conference.

4. Southern hospitality is real.  My first experience with it was fake.  I moved to NC just before starting high school, and it was ok to talk to my classmates at church, but they ignored me in the hallway at school.  People acted glad to see you, but weren't really.  They asked "How are you?," but it's a greeting, not a real question.  In contrast, when Orange UMC sent a packing party last weekend, 8 people came, loaded down with sweet tea, bottled water, lemonade, banana bread, coconut pie, and pimento cheese.

5. I quickly learned 21 years ago that you have to have black-and-white opinions about Duke, UNC, and NC State, and I was glad I was already a Duke fan.  I was also glad to marry a State grad, because then I could wear red again!  And the past 3 years at Orange (located in Chapel Hill), I learned that light blue (a.k.a., Carolina blue), being a cool color, creates a nice, calm, peaceful atmosphere in a sanctuary.

6.  Finally, although I resisted for years and years, I finally learned to be ok with saying "yes, ma'am," "no sir," and "y'all."  Sometimes it even comes out naturally.

I know I will seem Southern to MD, but native Southerners know I've just been a transplant all these years.

Roots and the End of the World as We Know It

Second Sunday after Pentecost

June 22, 2014

Psalm 86; Matthew 10:24-39

I have never liked the question “Where are you from?”  I’ve never liked it, because I’ve never known how to answer it.  Is the person asking where I was born?  Where I’ve lived the longest?  Or where I currently live?  Those answers aren’t just three different states, but three different parts of the country!  I moved six times before I graduated high school, living in four different states and another country.  I had a friend in college who couldn’t understand moving so much and not being tied to a particular geographic place.  She grew up in the house her parents built, across the street from her grandparents, on land that had been in her family for generations.  She’s now raising her family on that same plot of land.  For my part, I couldn’t understand being connected to one particular location.  Since I obviously didn’t have roots in one place, I used to say that I had tendrils: a tendril in this place I lived, a tendril in that place, tendrils at each of my grandparents’ houses, a tendril where I went to college and grad school.  However, I was reflecting on this recently and I think that tendrils are too fragile a thing, I think that what I’ve called tendrils are actually roots, they’re just not all clumped together like most roots and so they’re not as visible.  My roots are located more in people and time and formative events than in geography. Although, I have a feeling folks in Maryland are going to think I'm Southern, even if those of you who are native Southerners know that I'm not.

Regardless of where you locate your roots, what happens to them in light of today’s Scripture reading, when Jesus says that “those who lose their life for his sake will find it”?  This passage is among the last the instructions that Jesus gives to the twelve as he sends them out.  The first part of the directions is to proclaim that “the kingdom of heaven has come near,” and to heal the sick.  The second part is where Jesus tells them to take nothing with them: no money, no change of clothes, not even a bag.  They are to trust God to take care of them and provide for them.  Next, Jesus says to stay in those houses that welcome you and to not worry about those that don’t; just brush the dust off your feet as you leave.  Then he tells them to be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves and should they be persecuted, to not worry what they are to say in their defense; the words will be given to them by the Holy Spirit.  Finally, we get to today’s passage:  Don’t be intimidated.  Don’t be bullied into silence.  You are of more value than many sparrows; God knows even the number of hairs on your head.  If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for Jesus you will find it.

And yet, giving up your life for Jesus often means feeling like you’re uprooting yourself.  This is because, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it in The Cost of Discipleship, the first call which every Christian “must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world.”[1]  We are called to not be more devoted or committed to anything than we are to Christ.  God comes first, over family, over work, over family land, over our roots.  Bonhoeffer wrote later on in the same paragraph, “When Christ calls a man [or woman], he bids him come and die.  It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow him, or it may be a death like [Martin] Luther’s, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world.”[2]  It may feel like the end of the world as we know it.  It may mean leaving some roots behind.  Christ calls us to put him first and to die to all else.  To love him the most and to love others less than him, to be willing to leave friends and family and the familiar behind. 

There are some changes coming to Orange, and so this next season may feel a little bit like uprooting.  But know this: uprooting does not mean changing who you are.  It does not mean changing traditions that are life-giving.  It does not mean not honoring the past and those who have come before.  Orange has a rich history full of the saints of God who loved to do his will.  And there are many saints here now, continuing to seek and do his will.  The roots of the Church are staying put, as they are grounded firmly in Christ.  Finally, don’t forget that God has already begun a good work in you, and he is faithful and will see it to completion.[3]  God has been active here, is active here, and will continue to be active here, no matter what happens.  God planted this church here for a reason, it has roots in this community, and we are still living into that call and becoming what God wants Orange to become. 

Now, we don’t know exactly what that looks like.  Giving up your life to follow Jesus, whether as an individual or as a church, often means not knowing what the future holds, and that’s pretty scary.  Jesus often calls us to step out in faith, to be vulnerable and live without security.  When God called Abram he said, “Go to the land that I will show you.”[4]  Abram had to go first, and once he was on his way, then God told him just where he was going.  Abram only got to see one step at a time and had to trust God’s call.  This spring I didn’t know what the future held, and I had accepted the likelihood that I wouldn’t be pastoring anywhere at all.  My husband and I knew God had called us to move, but we had very little idea what that was going to look like.  The house was on the market before I got a call from the District Superintendent that I’d be serving at any church at all. 

This past week I found out one more piece of what the future holds in Maryland, the next step, and some of you have already heard this.  I share it with you not just because of our United Methodist connection, but because when one part of the body of Christ hurts, we all hurt.  This part is the reason why I have tissues up here with me.  As I told you last month, I’ll be pastoring two churches, who have had different pastors before now.  One pastor I’ve communicated with quite a bit and she’ll be a great resource and guide for me.  The other pastor unexpectedly passed away last weekend.  He was found at the parsonage, having ended his battle with mental illness by committing suicide.  I would ask you please to keep that church and his family in your prayers as they grieve and mourn.  We don’t know what the future holds, other than that God is faithful and will continue to guide us through it. 

We know this because he has promised that if we forget about ourselves and focus on Jesus and follow him, we will find life again.[5]  And it will be not just any life but abundant life, full of opportunities and potential.  “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”[6]  This is the life Jesus wants us to have. 

There was a time in my life when I found the book of Ecclesiastes fascinating, and besides Chapter 3, which The Birds made into a song, my other favorite verse was 11:1 – “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.”  And I wondered, what does it mean to cast your bread upon the waters?  Bread will get soggy and disintegrate and then it’ll be no good.  But bread as a metaphor, like your livelihood, or your daily bread, to give it up, and then after many days you will find it again.  It’s another way of saying the same thing – “those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”  Cast that which you trust in upon the waters, and after many days God will return it to you multiplied many times over. 

Many of you have heard my story of leaving everything to serve God in Nicaragua.  I left my job, sold my car, and packed up my stuff.  And you know what my mom said after I’d been there a couple months?  That this was the happiest she had seen me in my entire life.  I followed Jesus’ call, gave up my life with air conditioning and clean water and financial security, and I found my life again.  In fact, so much so that then God asked me to give up that life and return to the U.S., to seminary, to North Carolina, and the life I found here was with Lee.  We started dating within a couple months of my leaving Nicaragua.  I already had some tendrils in North Carolina and they turned into stronger roots. 

In following Jesus’ call to Maryland, I don’t feel like we’re uprooting our family.  We are not pulling out our roots here.  We have family in North Carolina who will continue to be our family.  Sue, the pastor at Saxapahaw United Methodist, will continue to be our children’s godmother.  St. Francis United Methodist in Cary will continue to be the church that sent me into ministry.  And y’all will continue to be Isabel’s first church family, a place she is always loved and welcome.  Here is where she was baptized and became part of God’s family.  We even managed to squeeze in her first day of school here this past week, as she attended Orange’s Vacation Bible School. 

Losing your life for the sake of the Gospel doesn’t mean uprooting or cutting ties; it means planting new roots.  It doesn’t mean there was anything wrong with the old roots, or what you were doing before; it’s just time to add some new roots.  One thing that helped me in leaving Nicaragua, which was a dream job for me, was this quote by Mother Teresa, found in her book, Total Surrender:

“However beautiful the work is,

Be detached from it,

Even ready to give it up.

You may be doing great good in one place,

But obedience calls you elsewhere.

Be ready to leave.

The work is not yours.

You are working for Jesus.”

            The work is not mine.  The work is not yours.  The work is God’s and he works through us to bring his creation to completion.  You may be doing a great thing, but if God calls you to leave it, to give it up for his sake, then it’s time to go.  It doesn’t change your roots.  It may feel like the end of the world as you know it.  But the work we do, wherever we do it and whatever we do, is for Jesus. 

            Thanks be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Touchstone, 1995), p. 89

[2] Ibid.

[3] Philippians 1:6

[4] Genesis 12:1

[5] Matthew 10:39, MSG

[6] John 10:10