Getting The Lead Out

Earlier this week I arrived home after a week’s vacation, and I want to say a word of thanks to those people who filled in for me when I was away.  Thanks to Dr. Tom Johnson for filling the pulpit, Virgel Rodriguez for taking care of the Children’s Sermon, and Dan, Cliff, Tom, Michael and Bert, for your help and flexibility

Part of my vacation was spent in the town of Galena, a tourist attraction in upper Illinois.  The town is located in Jo Daviess County, which at one time provided 80% of the lead used in the United States.  During the Civil War there was great demand for lead, but after the war this demand dried up and the town’s fortunes fell, until it could be reborn as a historic tourist site.  The towns name appropriately comes from the mineral Galena which is the lead ore that was mined there.

There is a long history of lead production in this area.  Long ago Native Americans discovered that if they burned the mineral Galena in a fire, and got it hot enough, the result would be ash and lead.  The ash they threw away, and the lead they could use in various ways.  This process of heating an ore and separating the metal is called smelting, and it’s the process used to produce not just lead, but tin, copper, silver, and gold.  When it comes to ores, fire separates what’s valuable from what’s useless.  Fire is an instrument of purification.  Fire tests an ore’s metal, revealing what it’s really made of.

This is true in Biblical imagery as well.  In the Bible, fire is often a metaphor for the trials that cleanse us.  Jesus said he came to baptize with the Holy Spirit and Fire and he went on to say that the wheat will be gathered in the granary while the chaff will be burnt away (Luke 3: 16-17).  The Apostle Paul writes:

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—  ¹³ the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done.  (1 Corinthians 3:12-13 NRSV)

I think Thomas Edison knew something about this.  Over one hundred years ago the great Edison industries of West Orange, New Jersey were wiped out by a fire.  Thomas Edison, who was 67 years old at the time, lost two million dollars in one fell swoop.  Suddenly much of his life’s work was gone.  The next morning he walked about the burnt ruins of his life, and said these profound words:  “There is great value in disaster.  All our mistakes are burned up.  Thank God we can start anew.”  And with those words the metal of Edison’s life became visible.  Edison got the lead out, started to rebuild, and three weeks after the fire his firm delivered the first phonograph.

We all face trials and hardships in life, and those fires – great and small – reveal a lot about us.  As they burn away the unnecessary things we get to see what’s left.  For some people fires reveal only ash.  For others lead.  For some, silver and gold.

This summer, as we face the heat of the sun along with the heat of life’s disappointments, we mustn’t forget to fill our lives with things that are fire proof, things that will last, things that really matter in the end.  No one is immune to trouble, and just as fire brings lead out of Galena, may our hardship bring the light and grace of God out of us.

Yours in Christ;

David

Cultivate Your Garden

There’s an old classic preacher’s story that goes something like this:  A new pastor was visiting one of his members, who had a reputation for maintaining a beautiful garden.  The reputation, it turned out, was entirely deserved.  The gardener proudly showed the pastor around showcasing the flowers and vegetables that sprang from the ground. 

Finally the pastor remarked:  “God has truly blessed you with a beautiful and productive garden.”  The gardener nodded, and then added, “But you should have seen the place when God took care of it by himself!”

Gardening is one of the most ancient activities.  When God created the world in Genesis, he started by planting a garden.  And then God created people to be the gardeners of this garden.  “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15 NRSV).  Gardening is also the image the Apostle Paul draws on when he describes his ministry.  “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6 NRSV).  It seems that God didn’t create gardens so they could tend themselves.  He created us to tend gardens for him.

We till.  We plant.  We water.  But God gives the growth.

If you have a garden, good for you!  If you don’t have a garden I’m here to remind you that you really do.  Our neighborhood and world is a garden that you’ve been created by God to cultivate.  And for me, and many of you reading this, Maple Avenue United Methodist Church is the specifically local community garden we’re called to tend. 

This is both a blessing and a challenge.  Our congregation is a garden unlike any other.  We have a ministry that is unlike any other ministry in town.  We have a family of faith unlike any other membership roll in town.  And we have the potential to make a significant and positive difference in the 12 Points Neighborhood, and the world – a potential that only we can fulfill.  Just as God calls each individual to a unique ministry, Maple Avenue United Methodist Church has its own special calling to serve God’s Kingdom in ways we are specifically qualified to do.  Maple Avenue is a beautiful and unusual garden, and you’re significant part of it.

Since May is the month many people start focusing on their gardens, let’s focus on this one.  We have a free community meal coming up on Wednesday, May 15^th, from 5-7 p.m.  The whole point of this gathering is for people of the congregation and people of the neighborhood to meet each other and make new friends.  Be part of this event.  And on Sunday, May 19^th, we will have a pot-luck dinner immediately after our second service (11:30 a.m.).  Bring a dish to share (it could be your favorite recipe, or simply a bag of potato chips) and enjoy the food and fellowship.

Invite your friends and neighbors to join you for worship.  At all of our events make visitors and guests feel welcome.  And lift up our congregation daily in prayer.  It’s the right time of year for gardeners to spring into action, so let’s cultivate our garden together.

In Christ;

David

Springing To Life

You might never have heard of the Anastatica hierochuntica, otherwise call a “Rose of Jericho,” but it has some fascinating properties which you can see demonstrated in several YouTube videos.  It is actually a tumbleweed found in the Sahara Desert and other arid portions of the Middle East.  It dries up in the desert heat looking like it’s totally dead, and it can tumble around the desert sometimes for years.  If you were to see one you might think it only a wad of dead leaves.  But when it tumbles into some water or the rainy season comes a funny thing happens.  The leaves unfurl and their color changes from a lifeless brown to vibrant green.  The plant springs to life in a matter of hours.  Of course, it can’t tumble around without water indefinitely.  If it went a decade without water it would probably stay brown and withered since it deadness can become a habit.  But the plant is designed to bear times of trial in anticipation of those times of renewal and rejuvenation.   

And for its rebirth, all the Rose of Jericho needs is a little bit of water.  

The forty day period before Easter, usually called “Lent,” is traditionally a time to remember the forty day temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.  We do this by facing our own temptations in our own wilderness.  It’s a time to confront the cold hard challenges that most of us would like to put off indefinitely. It can be a time of profound spiritual growth as we tumble around our arid landscape.  But we can’t live forever devoid of pleasure.  Rough times always need to be punctuated by times of refreshment – even for Jesus.  And Lent is always followed by Easter.

Jesus tells the Samaritan woman at the well, “…those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." (John 4:14 NRSV).

Easter (April 21^st of this year) is the time to drink fully of that water so we, like the Rose of Jericho, can spring to life with joy and anticipation.

Appropriately enough the Rose of Jericho is part of a class of flora called “Resurrection Plants” so called because they bounce back to life when nourished.  And we are “Resurrection People.”  We bounce to life as well, fed by the Easter power of Jesus Christ.

Christ is risen and we, like him, are victorious over death itself.  Life rises triumphant from the grave.  The light shines in the darkness and the darkness could not overpower it.  So as the cold winter months finally draw to an end, this is the time to celebrate and rejoice.  

Check out our Cantata.  Share in our Bible Study.  Renew your friendships.  Enjoy the flowers and the beauty around us.  Dare to laugh.  Start to bloom.  And like the Rose of Jericho allow God to fill your dead withered leaves with nourishment and life.  

Christ is risen.  That’s our signal to follow his example and, like the Rose of Jericho, spring back to life.  

Springfully yours;

David

March Blog - Looking and Seeing

Years ago I was driving into Rockport Indiana in the first new car we’d ever bought; a Ford Escort.  It only had around 600 miles on it at the time and was barely broken in.  As I entered the town a car in the approaching lane swerved into my lane suddenly and unexpectedly, clobbering my car hard and throwing me against the door.  Thankfully, even though I was sore for a week, nobody was seriously injured.  The car, however, was a total loss.  The driver of the other vehicle was apparently trying to make a left-hand turn through me.  “I looked at you but I just didn’t see you,” he said. 

Then several months ago I was sitting at a red light on 3^rd street near the courthouse behind another vehicle.  As I waited for the light to change there was a sudden “WHOMP” and I lurched forward.  A van had rear-ended me while I sat there.  Again, nobody was hurt and sitting in front of the courthouse the police were quickly on the scene.  The driver of the van was quite apologetic.  “I just didn’t see you,” he told me.

There is a difference between looking and seeing. 

I can’t criticize these drivers too strongly, however, because I’ve done the same thing.  I’ve looked without seeing.  I’ve searched for that salt shaker when it was sitting on the shelf in front of me, or sought my wallet or keys when they were right on the table.  We all tend to do this, and we all tend to do this especially with our own faults.  As Jesus says:

“…how can you say to your neighbor, "Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye.  (Luke 6:42 NRSV)

We are preparing to enter into the season of Lent, which begins with Ash Wednesday on March 6^th of this year.  It’s traditionally a time for self reflection and introspection.  It’s a time for us to make small changes in our lives that may have enormous consequences in the end.  It’s a time to look and see the logs in our own eyes.

So how does one go about looking and seeing?  We do it by focusing on what we should be looking at, putting pride and preconceived notions on hold, and opening ourselves up to new visions and insights.  God has a hard time revealing new things when we only see what we want to see.

This Lent let’s focus on those things in our lives we need to change.  Let’s put pride and preconceived notions on hold, and open ourselves to new insights from God.  Let’s move from merely looking to actually seeing.

Lent is an appropriate time to let our guard down and examine our lives humbly and honestly.  That's something we need to do before we hit the road, or another car.

Yours in Christ;

David

January Blog - Behold, I Shall Show You A Mystery

For the 3^rd year in a row we will be presenting our Murder Mystery Theater on February 8 and 9, 6 p.m. This year’s feature, “No Body To Murder”, promises to be fun and funny.  I know the cast has been having a great time preparing to present it. 

One of the enjoyable things about a Mystery Theater is that the audience has an opportunity to figure the mystery out at the end and prizes are awarded to those who solve the mystery. So technically, while the play is a mystery before the show begins, it’s not a mystery by the time people leave.  It’s only a temporary mystery that quickly gets resolved, so those present can pack up and go home satisfied.

It’s too bad every mystery doesn’t get solved this fast.  Currently science is full of mysteries that scientists have been struggling to understand for decades.  What is “dark matter,” and how can quantum physics and general relativity be unified are just a couple of the big ones. And if we’re honest, most of us live lives full of unanswered questions; mysteries that always elude our understanding even when we fool ourselves into believing we have them figured out.  The more I think I understand people, the more they prove far more complicated and interesting than I imagined.

This is unfortunate, since most people, including myself, have a strong distaste for unanswered questions.  I want to know if flying saucers are real, big foot exists, and what happened to Amelia Earhart.  Mysteries creates a tension that we naturally seek to resolve with answers, and this is where faith often steps in.  People think of faith as that cure-all that eliminates the mysteries around us so we can live our lives secure in our certainty.  But this isn’t exactly the case. As 1 Timothy 3:16 reminds us, mystery is also part of faith itself.

Without any doubt, the mystery of our religion is great: He was revealed in flesh, vindicated in spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among Gentiles, believed in throughout the world, taken up in glory. (1 Timothy 3:16 NRSV)

The phrase “mystery of our religion” doesn’t get thrown around much these days, maybe because we want a religion free from mystery.  But in fact, our religion is something of a mystery.  This means that we never have everything – including the Bible, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, or God himself – wholly figured out.  Christianity is a mystery that encourages us to grow in our knowledge and understanding, but it’s always bigger than what we know and understand.  And a real faith doesn’t eliminate the mysteries of life, it equips us to live joyfully in the face of those mysteries.

Life itself is a bit like a murder mystery theater, and we’re participating, trying to understand.  But that understanding will never be complete until we take our final bow and the curtain closes.

What faith does is enable us to live our lives fully and well until that time.  “Without a doubt, the mystery of our religion is great”

Mysteriously yours;

David

December Blog - Be A Child

            Something terrible happens to most of us, usually somewhere between the age of 10 and 20.  We grow up.  While there are certainly advantages to growing up and there are times when it’s quite helpful to be mature -- something vital and vibrant often gets lost in the process.  Think about how you experienced Christmas when you were a child.

            Children receive Christmas with joy.  There is a building sense of excitement.  Most days have only 24 hours, but the days leading up to The Big Day go so slowly for the child they’re at least 58 hours in length.  Children can’t wait for Christmas morning to arrive.

            Adults receive Christmas with depression.  There’s so much to do and so little time.  Get the gifts.  Cook the food.  Hang the lights.  Trim the tree.  Who’s gift are we forgetting?  When can we relax?  The day’s whiz by at the speed of Christmas lights, and the holiday comes and goes with the blink of an eye.

            Children receive Christmas with wonder.  There is enchantment in the air.  They have the magic of the Bethlehem star, Christ’s birth, angels and magi. Christmas is when a mysterious God breaks into the world with glorious light.  And of course, there’s Santa Claus and his reindeer.

            Adults receive Christmas with skepticism.  There’s no such thing as magic.  The Bethlehem star was probably just supernovae, or a strange conjunction of planets.  Angels are cute decorations, but nothing else.  And Santa Claus?  Well...you know what adults think.

            Children receive Christmas with faith.  Anything can happen.  Dreams come true, and endings are happy.  At Christmas the world becomes less scary and cold, and more cozy and warm.  Miserly scrooges become generous friends, and people help each other.  There’s peace on earth and good will toward others.

            Adults receive Christmas with cynicism.  All people care about is money and things.  We’ve got to push our way through the crowds, to spend our cash on gifts that will probably break, or get returned.  Help other people?  No time.  Instead of peace, we have traffic jams.  Instead of good will we have short-tempered shoppers.

            I suspect that Christmas is for children.  They are the ones who seem best able to enjoy it.  Many of us adults have forgotten how.

            How many years has it been since you were a child?  Maybe it’s been too long. 

            This Christmas, why not revisit your youth? Let go of your depression, and get excited again.  Forget about your skepticism, and rediscover wonder.  Instead of exercising cynicism, embrace the world with faith.  Savor the days with delight.

            Be a child.  After all, that’s exactly what God became, 2000 years ago, in a manger in Bethlehem.

Merry Christmas!

David

When Troubles Return

Douglas Fairbanks, the famous actor, was driving back to his mansion in England when he saw an Englishman plodding along the road in the heat.  The stranger looked familiar, so Fairbanks stopped to offer him a ride, which was gratefully accepted.  As they drove along, Fairbanks wracked his brain trying to remember where he knew the aristocratic, well-dressed, gentleman.  Still unable to remember who he was, Fairbanks invited the man into his house for some refreshment, and to try to elicit some clues to his identity.  The visitor knew many of Fairbanks’ friends, and seemed familiar with the estate - commenting favorably on some recent improvements.

When Fairbanks’ secretary finally walked into the room, Fairbanks took him aside and whispered the question that had been plaguing him:  ‘Who is this Englishman?  I know he’s Lord somebody, but I can’t remember his name.’

‘That,’ replied the secretary, ‘is the English butler you fired last month for getting drunk.’

Problems have a way of returning to haunt us.  Not just once or twice, but again and again and again.  Just about the time you think you’re through with a difficulty, a new one takes its place.  Just about the time you think you’re rid of an inconvenience, there it is again in all its glory. 

It is the nature of life to throw obstacles in our path.  But at the same time, it’s our nature, as we share in the Spirit of Christ, to keep on going.  It is our nature to grow through adversity.

Beethoven’s composition teacher pronounced him a hopeless dunce who couldn’t learn anything.  Lucille Ball was fired from the chorus of a road company and told by a Ziegfeld aide, “you’re not meant for show business.  Go home.”  Rudyard Kipling was fired from his first job as a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner and told he didn’t know how to use the English language.  Edgar Rice Burroughs, who wrote Tarzan of the Apes, didn’t think it was much of a story and doubted if anyone would read it.  They all had troubles return to them, and they all grew through the adversity. 

The point of the whole process is this:  Overcoming trouble is the only way we can grow as individuals.  The world knocks us down, God raises us up and we start out again.  The world knocks us down, God raises us up and we start out again.  And in that repetitious cycle our faith takes root, our inner strength blossoms, and our character begins to resemble the character of Jesus Christ. 

Jesus Christ himself was thought to be a dangerous failure, with his message of love and forgiveness.  He was nailed to a cross and written off as finished.  But far from being done, God raised him up and he started out again.  And because he rose and lives in us, we can do the same.

Troubles always return.  But so does Jesus Christ.  And with his strength and Spirit we can outlast any trial the world may send our way.

David Rockhill 

That Old Gypsy Man

One of my favorite poems, which has only gained traction for me as I age, is by Ralph Hodgson.  It begins and ends with the refrain:

Time, You Old Gypsy Man
Will you not stay,
Put up your caravan
Just for one day?[1]

The poem speaks of the relentless march of time through the ages, and the longer I live the more time does seem to be relentless.  Having just returned from our vacation with a slew of photographs, I look at the pictures now and wonder.  Each image is a fleeting moment of time captured like a bug in amber.  Once I looked forward to this vacation.  Now, in the blink of an eye, it’s all past.  Time, that old gypsy man has moved on.

In the office we have a collection of photographs from the past of Maple Avenue.  All of those pictures were real moments in time.  The children dancing around the Maypole, the women dressed in their black long sleeved dresses and elaborate hats, the former pastors who served going back to Albertus T. Briggs (who served here in 1882).  All of these are moments in time that have slipped into the quicksand of yesterday.

And this moment now will soon be gone.  You will stop reading my words, and they will fade into a memory – if that.  But in the inexorable march of time there is the seed of eternity.  And as the present drifts into the past there is something that lasts.  Jesus Christ says this in the final chapter of the final book of the Bible:

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."

(Revelation 22:13 NRSV)

Not all things slip away after all!  And as we move onward to our Omega, our Last, and our End, there is a light that has always been there and always will be there.  There is Something that doesn't fade. 

Time may pass us by, but we're still part of something that is eternal.  This moment will cease, but the work we’re involved in will continue.  And not even that old gypsy man can outrace the Alpha and Omega of the cosmos.

As time relentlessly marches forward why not make yourself part of an eternal presence?  Why not make a lasting difference in this world?  Why not give yourself to something bigger and better than yourself?  Time marches on, but the Kingdom we’re serving will outlast time itself.

Eternally Yours,

David Rockhill

Don’t Be Fooled By The Imposter!

 Last week I started receiving Facebook messages from people wondering why they were getting a friend request from me when I was already their friend.  It turned out; I was the victim of what has become a very common thing on Facebook and in social media:  Somebody was impersonating me without my knowledge or permission.

Someone had lifted an online picture of me, and some other public photo’s of mine, and put together a Facebook page, using information about me available online.  That person then opened a Facebook account pretending to be me.  The only thing the phony got wrong was my gender.  For some reason he/she listed me as a woman!  This last mistake was a red flag to people who actually knew me. 

Why do this? Why pretend to be someone else online?  There are several reasons someone might want to impersonate you in social media.  If someone is tricked into accepting an imposter as a “friend,” then that phony friend has access to information posted for friends only.  It’s a way of data-mining, as the practice has come to be called.  It also gives the imposter fake credibility, since he/she can make comments or give advice pretending to be you, thus tricking people into taking the imposter seriously.  More disturbingly, it can be a way of smearing someone’s character, since a person impersonating you can post things supposedly from you that make you look bad. 

I reported it to Facebook several times, and when some of my friends started reporting it, the fake account was closed down.  A big “thank you” to my friends who reported the imposter!  So if you have a friend being impersonated, report it right away.

You may think this is a new problem, but it goes back to Jesus’ day.  There are many books claiming to be written by Paul, Peter, Andrew, Judas, Mary, and a whole host of early followers of Jesus.  These books were almost certainly written by people pretending to be them.  If you’re interested in reading these books check out one of the online collections of “Pseudepigrapha” – the fancy name used by scholars for the library of ancient books written by imposters.

.Jesus himself warns against those who would impersonate him!

Then Jesus began to say to them, "Beware that no one leads you astray.  Many will come in my name and say, "I am he!' and they will lead many astray (Mark 13:5-6 NRSV).

Not everyone speaking for Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit, or the Apostles, is really speaking for them.  And to spot the imposters, there are some simple things to look for. 

Jesus is all about love (of even enemies), forgiveness, healing, and grace.  Anyone who doesn’t speak with these qualities isn’t speaking with the mind of Christ.  And since Jesus is a reflection of God, anyone who doesn’t speak with these qualities isn’t speaking on behalf of God.  And since the Holy Spirit is the power of Jesus and God at work in the world, anyone who doesn’t speak with these qualities isn’t speaking on behalf of the Holy Spirit.  And since the Apostles were filled with and moved by the Holy Spirit, anyone who doesn’t speak with these qualities probably isn’t speaking on behalf of the Apostles. 

When it comes to me, and other friends of yours, don’t be fooled by an imposter.  And when it comes to Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit, or any aspect of your faith, it pays to be extra careful.

In God’s Peace;

The Real David

The Joy Of Losing Things

I recently decided to clean out my cell phone.  I have used it to take numerous photos over the last couple years, saved many documents, taken notes, etc.  I even had a whole file devoted to the 2018 Indiana Annual Conference filled with relevant material. 

Most of this stuff doesn’t mean anything to me now, I don’t really need it, and if it had disappeared suddenly a week ago I wouldn’t have noticed.  Yet, as unimportant as my phone clutter may be, I have a hard time pushing the “delete” button and getting rid of it for good.  What if I accidentally delete something important?  Some of those photos may turn out to have historical value!  And besides, it’s not like they’re taking up space in my house or office. 

So, instead of deleting them, I found an old thumb drive, and simply transferred them over so I can throw them into a corner and forget about them.  I now rest easy in the knowledge that they’re still around if needed, even though I probably will never need or see them again.

Human beings have a natural tendency to view losses as far more significant than gains.  If you find twenty dollars you’re naturally happy.  But if, soon after this, you have a five dollar bill fly out the window and disappear, your regret for losing the five dollars completely overshadows the joy you should have at being fifteen dollars to the good.  In Psychology and Economics this is called “loss aversion,” and it is a verifiable part of our human wiring.  It may make sense from a survival point of view, but in the modern world it can lead to a host of problems including spiritual and physical hording. 

Our fear of losing can get us into trouble because there are things in our lives we ought to lose; things that we cling to unnecessarily.

We walk around with anger, carry grudges, focus on our failures, are bitter over past disappointments, and feel anguish over our own shortcomings.  Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to lose a few of those things after all!  Maybe, in fact, we need to constantly remind ourselves of what really is important, and what doesn’t matter in the end.    Maybe we should be a little quicker to push the “delete” button in our lives.

There’s a story of a man who lost all his investments and money in the stock market crash of 1929.  Soon afterward his pastor paid a visit, finding the investor slumped in his parlor obviously depressed.

“I’ve lost everything,” he said to the clergy.  “Everything.”

The pastor replied:  “I’m sorry you wife has died.”

“She’s not dead,” said the investor.  “She’s as devoted and loving as ever.”

“Well then I’m sorry something has happened to your children.”

“No, they’re fine.  They’re playing in the other room.”

“And your friends have all abandoned you?”

“I still have good friends who are very supportive.”

The pastor concluded with this:  “You haven’t lost everything.  You’ve only lost the least important part of your life.  The important things are still there. Embrace them.”

We can accumulate so much junk in our lives that the good stuff gets buried.  Periodically we need to clean things up.  Like my cell phone’s internal storage, we need to sort things out before we become overloaded with rubbish.  And in this process we must inevitably lose some of the things we cling to.  The Bible challenges us to do this.  As Colossians 3:8 NRSV puts it:  “But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth.”

The least important parts of our lives can interfere with the most important parts.  Let’s take a moment to consider what really matters.  The important things are definitely worth keeping, but this summer might be a good time to lose some of the clutter.

David

Becoming Our Parents

There is an insurance commercial currently running which shows a group of men and women attending a “Dad” support group.  The group is wrestling with the fact that they’re all turning into their parents, saying things like “I text in complete sentences”, “This hat was free, what am I suppose to do, not wear it?” “Why is the door open, are we trying to air condition the whole neighborhood?”  One man holds up his flip phone and says, “Why would I replace this? It’s not broken.”

The truth is, many of us have watched with fascination and surprise as we slowly grow to be like our parents.  We enter the cocoon of adulthood only to emerge as butterflies suspiciously similar to the moms, dads, and guardians before us. 

Young children left on their own will not survive, and because of this nobody grows up entirely alone.    All of us have had our lives shaped by the people who were there to nurture us and walk us into adulthood.  And those people leave a lasting imprint on us, for better or worse, whether we know it or not.  We’re not doomed to become like those who have gone before—especially if we suffer abuse and neglect—but if we don’t actively resist it, we naturally and subconsciously grow in that direction.

This is true of our concrete human relations, but it also seems to be true in a spiritual sense.  We tend to grow into our image of God.  If we see God as cruel and judgmental, we tend to become cruel and judgmental.  If we see God as compassionate and forgiving, we tend to become compassionate and forgiving.

This is one of the lessons we can learn from Jesus in his Sermon on the Plain (Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount).

"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.  Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.   (Luke 6:32-36 NRSV)

For Jesus, this idea that we should be kind to people regardless of whether they’re kind to us rests on his image of God.  We should be that way because God is that way.  And being kind to all, even the wicked, will make us “children of the Most High” because God is “kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.”  The way Jesus saw God was reflected in his life and his teachings.  And when we share Christ’s vision of God, it will be reflected in our lives and teachings as well.

This creates something of a ripple effect.  Embracing God as merciful tends to make us merciful, which in turn tends to make our children merciful.  Children grow to be like us as we grow to be like God.

We do have a merciful God who is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked, it’s just that we often make the mistake of portraying God in different ways, and this mistake can have unfortunate and long term consequences.

I wish all our women a happy Mother’s Day, and all our men a happy Father’s Day.  We are blessed by many loving parents who have grounded their lives in a loving Divine Parent.  May we all build on the same foundation. 

Yours in Christ;

David

Our Journey of Exploration

May is a month chocked full of special events.  Not only do we have Mother’s Day on the 13^th reminding us to thank and cherish the women who bless us in so many ways, but there’s also May Day (May 1^st), Star War’s Day (May the 4^th be with you!), Cinco de Mayo (May 5^th) and Memorial Day (May 28^th).  And I’m sure the young people wouldn’t want me to forget about National Clean Your Room Day on May 10^th!

And then there’s May 14^th, which in 1804 marked the beginning of an important event in American History—the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Captain Meriwether Lewis and his friend Second Lieutenant William Clark, to lead a group in exploring and mapping the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase.  So the small group left St. Louis to travel 8000 miles over a period of 2 years, four months, and 10 days.  It’s a famous journey, but we sometimes forget that these early explorers didn’t always have it easy.  For example: 

• On at least one occasion, Lewis and Clark got lost.  In June 1805 they unexpectedly came upon a fork in the Missouri.  Since the Missouri was their route through the mountains, they had to figure out which fork to take.  After a week of investigation, and two separate expeditions, Lewis and Clark decided to take the south fork.  Everyone else in the party disagreed with them, but Lewis and Clark turned out to be right.
• On April 29, 1805, Lewis and another hunter killed a large grizzly bear.  Grizzly bears were still largely unknown to science.  Another grizzly bear got some revenge on June 14^th, 1805.  While exploring the river’s edge, Lewis shot a bison and as he was waiting for it to die, a grizzly bear snuck up on him and chased him into the river.
• The party usually lived on wild game, but when food got scarce, they would frequently dine on dog meat.  At one point the starving group was reduced to eating horses, candles, and portable soup.
• On the return trip, Lewis got a little behind in his work when he was accidentally shot in the posterior by a member of the team named Pierre Cruzatte.  Cruzatte was nearsighted, and mistook Lewis for an elk. 

Explorers were essential in the exploration and settling of the American Continent, and I’m not just talking about the European settlement of the land.  When the Pilgrims arrived to settle Plymouth Colony in 1620, they were touching down on a continent already inhabited by native people who had themselves explored and pioneered America 10,000 years previously!

Explorers are essential in the life of the church as well, and this is a good time to notice and appreciate the explorers among us.  So our hats are off to those people who have broken new ground, and led us through uncertain times.  Maple Avenue is blessed with an unusually large number of talented and innovative people, and we celebrate all of them!  

This is also a good time to recognize that we live in a changing world and our whole congregation is in a real sense engaged in a journey of exploration.  Like Lewis and Clark, we need to try different things, check out new rivers and paths, and find untapped resources.  Like them we need to brave unexpected challenges, overcome setbacks, connecting with people in innovative ways.  And like them we will sometimes take a wrong turn or have to tighten our belts. 

We are on a journey of exploration, but we never travel alone.  Jesus Christ travels with us, the Holy Spirit empowers us, and God continually calls us forward to that Kingdom of love and grace.  It is an adventure.  There are many people in the world who like to play it safe avoiding uncertainty.  There’s nothing wrong with that.  But we are explorers and pioneers, and I thank you for traveling with us!

In God's Peace;

David Rockhill

Jesus is Dead…April Fools!

This year we get to witness a relatively rare event.  Easter falls on April Fool’s day!   The last time this happened was 1956, and the next time we see this conjunction is 2029.  So for me and many others, this is the first time we remember seeing such a thing.  

Since Easter celebrates the Resurrection of Christ, and April Fool’s Day celebrates practical jokes, one might conclude that there’s not much of a connection between the two events, even when they fall on the same day.  This isn’t exactly the case, however.  Many early Christians understood the resurrection of Christ to be a practical joke disguised as a ransom paid to the devil.  As Jonathan Burke explains:

According to the ransom model humanity was held under the power of the devil, until Christ offered the devil his own life and body in exchange for those he held, thus ransoming us by taking our place (substitution).  Christ tricked the devil however, ransoming humanity but also taking back both his life and body.[1]

Not many modern Christians embrace this view, as entertaining as it may be, since it involves Christ making a shady deal with the devil.  But the idea of Satan victimized by a divine practical joke did inspire an interesting Christian practice. 

In the 15^th century a number of churches could be found celebrating Easter by telling jokes and encouraging people to laugh.  They called it the “Risus Paschalis”, which is Latin for “Easter Laugh”.  Easter was always a time of great joy, but the introduction of jokes into a sermon was something many of the dower Church Fathers would have frowned on.  And when the Easter joke telling got out of hand, and the pulpit acquired an ‘R’ rating (or far worse) the practice was condemned and discouraged.

Recently there are a number of Christians resurrecting the practice.  One group, The Fellowship of Merry Christians, has been promoting a cleaned-up version of the Easter Laugh since 1988.  Noting that Christians from the earliest days to the present have seen Easter as a time of unbridled joy, they say why not laugh!  And why not tell jokes (clean ones)?

Jesus says, “Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy” (John 16: 20 NRSV).  If our pain has turned into joy, who can fault us for a hearty chuckle?  

April Fool’s day is something of a mystery, and nobody is entirely sure where the holiday came from.  But Easter is a different story.  For Christians, it is grounded in the greatest upset in human history, when Jesus Christ conquered darkness and death by rising from the grave.  I don’t see this as a practical joke, but it does give rise to the greatest punch line in history:  “He has risen!”

The 4^th century Christian preacher John Chrysostom mocked the grave in an Easter sermon with these words:

It received a body and encountered God.
It took earth and came face-to-face with heaven.
It took what it saw and fell by what it could not see.
Death, where is your sting?
Hades, where is your victory?
Christ is risen and you are overthrown.[2]

So tell a funny story, go to a Post-Easter Party, laugh.  We share an Easter faith.  It’s not an April Fool’s joke, but it is our hope, a hope that makes us now and always a joyful people.

David

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[1] Jonathan Burke, Crucified With Christ: The Biblical View of Atonement (LivelyStones Publishing) 10-11

[2] https://www.reformedworship.org/article/december-1999/paschal-sermon-st-john-chrysostom-4th-century-sermon-still-preached-every-east

The Non-Leap Of Faith

Ken Baldwin was twenty-eight years old, and severely depressed back in August of 1985 when he decided to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge (According to a New Yorker article).  “I wanted to disappear,” he said. “So the Golden Gate was the spot. I’d heard that the water just sweeps you under.” Walking onto the bridge, he counted to ten, froze, counted to ten again, and this time jumped over the side.[1]

Baldwin is one of the few people to jump off the bridge and survive, so we know what he was thinking at the time.  “I still see my hands coming off the railing,” Baldwin recalls, and “I instantly realized that everything in my life that I’d thought was unfixable was totally fixable—except for having just jumped.”

People who jump off the bridge, not surprisingly, often find themselves suffering from “tunnel vision.”  They only see their troubles, their depression, and fail to see anything bright or hopeful in their lives.  They focus on escaping their problems, and the edge of the bridge offers them a path to that destination…or so they think.  One jumper left a suicide note with the simple message:  “Absolutely no reason except I have a toothache.”

The season of Lent, that period of time between Ash Wednesday (February 14^th this year) and Easter (April 1^st), is a season of introspection, and a time when we sometimes give up something bad for us (candy, cigarettes, etc.) or start practicing something good for us (praying regularly, exercising every morning, etc.).  Lent is a season for change, but maybe instead of embracing superficial changes, it ought to be a season of significant shifts in our way of living.  And what’s more significant than a shift in attitude?   Maybe Lent is a good time to replace our “tunnel vision” with a wider perspective.  Instead of leaping into despair, or the promise of a quick and easy solution, we should hunker down and face life head on.  Don’t give up, but plan and dream.  Don’t go over the edge, but courageously resist and hold on.  As the Apostle Paul advises:  “Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong” (1 Corinthians 16:13 NRSV).  

The French dramatist and novelist, Tristan Bernard, was arrested by Gestapo agents along with his wife, and interned at the Drancy deportation camp.  The agents were at his door to take them away, when Tristan turned to his weeping wife and said:  “Don’t cry, we were living in fear, but from now on we will live in hope.” This seems like an excellent idea for Lent.

Maybe, as Ken Baldwin discovered when he jumped off the bridge, everything in our life that we think is unfixable is totally fixable—if we don’t leap into despair.  Maybe Tristan Bernard is right, and now is the time of hope. Maybe Paul is right and we should stand firm with faith and courage.  And maybe this Lent is a good time to take this non-leap of faith.

Yours in Christ;

David

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[1] From the New Yorker's 2003 article:  Jumpers: The fatal grandeur of the Golden Gate Bridge, by Tad Friend:  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/10/13/jumpers