iBelin

Good News For Everybody!

// January 30th, 2010 // 8 Comments » // Uncategorized

The message I want to share with the congregation I serve is from Luke 4:21-30. I have titled it, ‘Good News For Everybody!’ This sermon really began last week in a message titled ‘God’s Word Will Change You.” In it, we shared that the Word of God awakens in us a sacred memory of the people God has created and calls us to be. No matter how long or intense the negative influences around us, God’s Word is healing and restorative. You can hear this sermon by clicking this link: God’s Word Will Change You

The anointing of God empowered Jesus to preach, teach, heal and cast out demons. Moreover, Jesus was emboldened to move with and among the poor, the sick and diseased, the blind and those whom society cast aside. His ministry signaled the time and, in fact, initiated an ongoing epoch for the liberation of the poor and the oppressed. Jesus’ coming has initiated for us a perpetual Jubilee.

As Jesus taught in the synagogue on that day, the emotions of the listeners mounted as Jesus read the Hebrew and then translated, interpreted and expounded in the tongue of the people they could readily understand. Their excitement took a detour when they realized the good news Jesus brought to them was not for them only. Their excitement was all but derailed when their particular national concerns and hopes were not supported by the message Jesus delivered that day under the anointing of God.

The mission of Jesus Christ is not mired in nationalism. Jesus came to all people, to all of God’s creation. This is clear from the scriptures. And yet, today, there are folk who seek to claim the salvation of God in Christ and the attendant blessings for themselves alone. These folk seek to dole out blessings and liberation and healing to those they deem appropriate or suit their cultural aesthetics. Jesus’ mission is a global, cosmic mission that too many people try earnestly to domesticate and own for themselves and those to whom they grant approval. Jesus is just too gargantuan for all such shenanigans.

The grace, the salvation of God is not subject to the prejudices, limitations, misunderstandings and boundaries of any nation, group, church, denomination, race, culture , any –ism, or anything else. God’s grace abounds to all of God’s creation.

Like is or not, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is radically inclusive. Though some want to own the Gospel and keep it for themselves, this is not the work of Jesus Christ. Tragically, God desires to do more in and through us, but too many folk want boundaries and limits more than we want grace. And so, in effect, Jesus passes through the midst of us and our churches and goes on His way healing, delivering, saving, lifting and giving life to those who will receive Him and the truth that His Good News is for everybody!

Now what? Now that we know the Good News is for everybody, what must we do? How must we behave? In what way must we share this Good News? You tell me! Let’s finish this message together and let’s get a conversation going in the comments section below:

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God’s Word Will Change You

// January 29th, 2010 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

The Word of God awakens in us a sacred memory of the people God has created and calls us to be. No matter how long or intense the negative influences around us, God’s Word is healing and restorative. You can hear this sermon by clicking this link:

GOD’S WORD WILL CHANGE YOU

Read the Scripture text for this message by clicking here: Luke 4:16-21.

When Our Lack Meets God’s Abundance

// January 20th, 2010 // 4 Comments » // preaching

John 2:1-11

God is always making up for what we lack. Our best planning cannot always anticipate the need ahead. There is always, ever the unexpected that lies beyond our abilities.

When Mary learned the family had run out of wine at the wedding in Cana, she interceded with Jesus to make sure the couple had what they needed to meet the needs of their guests. Jesus, yielded to His mother’s insistence and turned six pots, each filled with about thirty gallons of water, into wine. The funny thing is, we don’t know if the bridegroom ever knew they had run out. He never even speaks in this passage. Yet, he gets praised for saving the best wine for last. The groom apparently does nothing to deserve it, but he is abundantly blessed. It is a gift from Jesus.

God is always doing something for us that we know nothing about. God mobilizes people to bless us. There are people interceding for us right now and we know nothing about it. Suddenly, we find ourselves swimming in the overflow of divine supply and life tastes better than we ever realized.

Even now, prayers are being offered for us that we cannot track. The love of God is a mystery we must seek to live into each and everyday. There are days in our lives when we can do no more than receive the great mercy and blessings of God. Still, there are other times when we, like Mary, must talk to Jesus on behalf of people who come up short.

Leave a comment below and tell me how the Love of God has blessed you when you weren’t expecting it.

God is a Healer

// January 19th, 2010 // 4 Comments » // Uncategorized

I wrote this while I was praying for a friend who was undergoing tests. Her doctors suspected that she had cancer and I was led to remind her that God is a healer. She is cancer free and continues to live in good health.

The contents of this booklet are based on the Holy Scriptures and focus on wellness in spirit, mind and body. I hope it will be a blessing to you.

Bread and Cup: Why I Want to Go to Haiti

// January 15th, 2010 // 8 Comments » // Haiti, Worship Resources

I believe deeply in the power of the sacraments of the church. Though often overlooked, tagged onto the end of a service or relegated to a poorly attended evening service, the sacraments are a gift from God. The sacraments are a visible sign of an invisible reality: the love of God. When invested with meaning and significance, the sacraments of the church impart power to the church. Sacraments are the embodiment of mystery.

Humbling ourselves before God in the sacraments is:

• living into the mystery of God and of God’s Church
• accepting that salvation is the act of God in Christ
• celebrating that grace is free, not earned, not bought
• participating in community
• seeking peace tenaciously
• loving freely and actively
• retiring hate, biases and prerequisites
• bodying forth the mission of Christ in the earth
• knowing that we do not know it all
• engaging our limitations
• trusting God who is all powerful
• filling up to overflowing with the love of God.

So, I want to go to Haiti to celebrate the sacraments of God’s church there. I want to body forth the mission of Christ to a literally broken creation. I want to stand and declare the love of God in Christ Jesus to my sisters and brothers who are living through intense suffering.

The Bread and the Cup have special meaning in this hour in the church, in the world. I say these words when I distribute the elements of communion: “This is the Body of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, broken for you. Eat with thanksgiving in your heart. And this is His Blood shed for you from Calvary’s cross. Drink with thanksgiving for in so doing you show forth Christ’s death and resurrection until He returns.”

For a people broken and bleeding, there is Christ who knows what it is to be broken and to bleed. Christ is with the people of Haiti sharing the experience of being broken and bleeding, yet innocent.

There must be Doctors Without Walls, keepers of the peace, many soldiers, reporters to document and chronicle events, but there must also be some folk to be Christ and to declare Christ’s Gospel by distributing food, ministering comfort, interceding in prayer, preaching a prophetic Word and administering the sacraments of God and God’s church. I want one of those folk to be me.

Have you thought about or felt led to go? Tell me in the comments section below.  I really want to discuss this.

A Litany Crying Out for God’s Mercy

// January 14th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Haiti, Worship Resources

One:   For the people of Haiti who are suffering the affects of the earthquake,

Many: O Lord, we cry out to You for Your mercy.

One:    For those still clinging to life beneath the rubble

Many:  O Lord, we cry out to You for Your mercy.

One:    For each and every man, woman, boy and girl who are looking for loved ones and hoping to find them alive,

Many: O Lord, we cry out to You for Your mercy.

One:    For the workers from all over the world who labor to rescue, keep peace, minister and heal,

Many: O Lord, we cry out to You for Your mercy.

One:    For the ministers and laypeople who are with the suffering ministering to them Your Presence,

Many: O Lord, we cry out to You for Your mercy.

One:    For the memories of your Children who lost their lives in this tragedy,

Many: O Lord, we cry out to You for Your mercy, Your strength and Your grace.

One:    For the people of Haiti and for all who suffer in any place in this hour

Many: O Lord, we cry out to You for Your mercy. AMEN

A Prayer for People of Haiti Still Trapped in the Rubble

// January 14th, 2010 // 7 Comments » // Haiti, worship, Worship Resources

O God, Creator and Sustainer of all that is, we come to You in reverence and humility thanking You for the great privilege of prayer. With our hearts heavy from grief and our minds filled with questions, we come to you! Once again and, as always, we need Your grace and mercy. God, we trust Your wisdom in all things.

Our hearts are filled with anguish for our sisters and brothers who are trapped in the rubble in Haiti who are still hoping and praying to be found before their spirits leave their bodies.

O God our Keeper! Your Word tells us, if we make our beds in Sheol, You are right there. So, show Yourself, manifest Your Presence to our sisters and brothers who are right now still trapped debris. Glorify Yourself in the rubble!

O God our Comforter! Wrap your loving arms around our Haitian sisters and brothers who are longing for to see their family members and loved ones again.

O God our Sustainer! Empower and strengthen rescue workers, keepers of the peace, medical personnel and preachers of your Gospel with your Holy Spirit.

O God our Peace! Breathe on Haiti.

O God our Healer! Heal broken bodies, troubled minds and sorrowing hearts.

O God our Joy! Penetrate the grief, pain and sorrow by the great power of your Presence that all may know, even in tragedies, that you are the Lord.

In Jesus’ holy name, AMEN

Haiti – Caring Enough to Ask Why

// January 13th, 2010 // 5 Comments » // Haiti, Worship Resources

What do we think about what has happened in Haiti? Pat Robertson has proffered a spiritual reason for this tragedy that is frighteningly hateful. A young friend has just tweeted simply, “Theodicy?” which is a defense of the goodness of God in the face of “evil.” These two are among a host of people who are struggling to understand how and why such horrible occurrences happen in the world. The tsunami which took place in 2004 and Hurricane Katrina gave rise to similar questionings. At the root of many of the questions really is, why would God let something like this happen to God’s creation?

Even the people who bequeathed to us the writings that make up the book of Genesis wrestled with why tragedies happen. I suppose we are no closer to finding a satisfactory answer now than then. Well, let me just speak for myself: I have no answers, but I care. I care deeply. I care enough to act and I care enough to ask.

Yes, I will contribute financially to the relief effort and encourage friends and those I serve to do the same. But, beyond this, I will do the much harder work of grieving the dead. I will sit still and, at least, try to wrap my mind around the scope of the loss of life. I will work hard not to hear the big number of the nameless, faceless others who died in the tragedy. Instead, I will try to mourn individual people… mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, babies of specific and particular backgrounds who have ceased to hope, to love. I will look up and out into space imagining the direction of these brothers and sisters who have taken transit to the next realm and I will re-member them. I will name them and not number them. I will re-member, I will put the broken back together in my heart. I will love these individual people.

Of course, I will ask “why?” But having the answer is not as important as caring enough to ask the question.

“The Tokens Show”: Engaging Our Faith

// January 13th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Faith, Nashville, storytelling

I’ve just experienced the Tokens Show. The Facebook ads that I so despise, had a picture of Amy-Jill Levine. Thinking that she would never have lent her image to any of the madness that typically interrupts my time on Facebook, I clicked just to amuse myself with whatever organization had pirated her visage. To my surprise, I was linked to the Tokens Show website. I learned that there is an old fashioned radio program a la Prairie Home Companion right in our backyard, on the Lipscomb University Campus. After perusing their previous offerings, I decided to not only attend their first show of the year but to purchase season tickets (the first season tickets I have purchased since deciding against subscribing again to the unnecessarily boring offerings at the Nashville Symphony…). I’m glad I did.

The Tokens Show is smart, satirical, funny and instructive without being a pain in the butt. Our most gracious host is Lee Camp who is a warm, engaging and effective director, singer, interviewer and obviously a serious thinker (I like this a whole heap!). And what’s more, he’s able to make his magic sans red shoes. The Most Outstanding Horeb Mountain Boys is the band led by Jeff Taylor who played an assortment of instruments and is, apparently, a John McCutcheon sort of a fellow (this is a high compliment).

Mary Gauthier (pronounced go-SHAY), who performed tonight, is quite a singer/songwriter. I’ll be heading to iTunes when I’m done here. She sings commentaries and life-stories that function as meditations and supplications and intercessions. (Click here for her site) Tyler Flowers has a much pathos and soul in his singing as anyone I’ve heard in some time. He can sing in my church (hopefully I can make this happen soon) anytime. With a few more years on that voice, you probably won’t be able to stand it. And he sang “‘Tis So Sweet to trust in Jesus.” Were I not one of the very few “Negroes” (nod to Senator Reid with whom I have no quibbles) in the auditorium, I’da just hollered out while that brother was singing. (Click here for Tyler Flowers MySpace page)

Anyway, this pretty heady content was presented in such an accessible way that I got emotional Yes, emotional. Fortunately, there was enough church and digestive humor so as to prevent me from feeling too heavy. Marcus Hummon‘s original song about a young Honduran woman and her struggles to get into this country, her deportation, and her determination to return to see her daughter who was born in this country would melt the coldest heart. Having spent most of the day at the Oasis Center (click here) and hearing about the struggles of young people here in Nashville, the Tokens Show’s offerings helps to solidify my resolve to engage the powers so that more children gain permanence.

Hope is the cord that holds the entire piece together. Amy-Jill is, of course, Amy-Jill. Enough said. Well, not quite. Amy-Jill’s chief challenge to people of faith seems to be to own your faith and to practice it without equivocation or apology. Of course, owning your faith demands knowing your faith… Hence, the Tokens Show, a way to engage our faith and enter into conversation with folk who do not believe as we believe without fear and without shame. This is a very powerful and transformative experience.

The next Tokens Show is Tuesday, April 13. You should come. In the meantime, checkout the Tokens Show website by clicking here.