Sometimes I preach: Advent, John 1:1-14 (SSUMC 12/7/14)

Before anything was, when there was only darkness and chaos, there was the Word, and through the Word, God spoke and from the Word came light. And God saw that it was good. I bring this up because I think it is important during this Advent season when we sing and celebrate the light of the world, to at least acknowledge to ourselves that at times we have chosen the darkness... When there was only darkness and chaos. There was the Word. This is where John’s story begins. And the Word was life and life was the light of all people. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. And the light came into the world, but the world did not recognize him. He came to his own, but his own did not receive him. We have a complicated relationship to light. History has shown this to be true. The Bible itself shows this to be true We know light is what we need, but light can unsettling Because the light shows you who you really are; shows the world for what it really is. Shows what you are not yet, but could be. It reminds me of the story in Exodus, where Moses comes down from speaking with the Lord and his face is glowing. It is literally radiant. And the people are so afraid that they beg him to cover his face. Sometimes, when faced with a glimmer of Light that created us, we turn away and beg for it to be hidden. We go and hide in the darkness. Men hated the light and loved the darkness, because their deeds were evil. And some days, it is can be pretty comfortable. We can wrap ourselves in the blanket of privilege and hide in the closet. And sure you might run into some stuff, no one can see your fears, and your insecurities and your misdeeds. I think it’s important to say that out loud: that sometimes we have loved the darkness more than we have loved the light. And yet, I think we know that despite the times we have turned to hide in the darkness, we know that we were not made for hiding in closets, Deep down, even if we are scared, that we were not made for darkness...

(Listen to the rest of the sermon here)

Sometimes I Preach: Walking with God (Back to Jerusalem), Luke 24:11-35 (SSUMC 8/24/14)

Because we believe that God walks with you down the road, surrounding your whole life with grace. We proclaim that before you took your first steps, God was with you. Even when you’re walking away from the place you should be, God meets you on the road. And if we were being technical here, I would tell you this is what prevenient grace looks like. This is the dawning of salvation in your heart. This is your heart burning within you even though you don’t know why.

This is the beginning of your walk with God, the part of the walk when you don’t realize God is with you.

But we also proclaim that we believe that when the moment comes when you realize you are in the presence of the resurrected Christ, it changes you.

John Wesley would say this is the dual moment of your justification and regeneration. But if that sounds a little ridiculous, let me put it this way. This is the moment you wake up. This is the moment who see Christ for who he is, see yourself for you are and see the world that Christ has issued in. This is the moment you are reborn.

This moment when you see the resurrected Lord in the breaking of the bread.


Listen to the rest of the sermon here



image credit: Walk to Emmaus Stain Glass in Pitman UMC's sanctuary (pitmanumc.org)

Sometimes I preach: The Reason Behind All This Time and Sand, Exodus 19:1-6,32:1-6 (SSUMC on 6/1514)

We started a new sermon series this week at SSUMC called Painting Pictures of Egypt, based on various stories from Exodus and Numbers featuring the Israelites during their time in the wilderness. I had the privilege of kicking us off last Sunday. If you are interested in the song I mention at the very beginning which the series is based on, you can hear it here

"We meet the Israelites here on the third new moon after they had gone out from Egypt. Three months had come and gone since the water of the Nile turned the blood, frogs and locusts filled the sky, since the Angel of the Lord swept through Egypt but passed over them, since they marched out Egypt with gold and silver and song. Three months since the Red Sea split in two and they walked across on dry land. Three months since they watched Pharoah’s army swept away in that same water.

Three months.

And we meet them in the wilderness.

Three months already they’ve been walking around here.

And yet today we find them camping at the base of a mountain in the wilderness.

And the glory of the God surrounds that mountain and it burns with the power of God, which they have been witness to, time and time again.

God is about to call Moses up on there on that  mountain and God’s about to hand down the covenant, the 10 commandments, the stone tablets, the whole shebang.

And as he goes, Moses leaves them with a promise from the mouth of God. “That I  who delivered you from Egypt, who brought you here on eagles’ wings, I will make you my people.”

And then Moses goes up. And the people are left

Still in the wilderness.

For forty days.

Waiting at the base of the mountain .

Still in the wilderness.

After forty days, the word goes out that Moses is late. That maybe he’s dead. That maybe its over.

That maybe this mountain in the wilderness is as far as they get..."

Listen to the rest of the sermon here

Sometimes I preach: When Jesus Says Things We Wish He Wouldn't, Matt 5:21-37 (SSUMC on 2/16/14)

Warning: I complain about the weather because let's face it. Winter is terrible, even not that bad Georgia winters. 

"The Jesus I picture in my head wears sandals all the time so obviously, he couldn't have been cold, right?

And it was strangely comforting as I thought about it. That somewhere in time, Jesus had once maybe been outside in 35 degree rain.

And it wasn't the Jesus I pictured.

But following Jesus is like sometimes. We have these  sometimes even unspoken expectations and pictures of who Jesus is in our minds, and every now then we encounter something that forces us to readjust our image."

Listen to it here

image source: http://www.kennethdowdy.com/iconography13.html

Purity Pirates and a Jesus Feminist: Reflections on freedom, ministry and high school

When I was seven or eight, I remember my dad telling me I could be anything I wanted when I grew up to which I promptly responded: "anything except a preacher."

Because even my seven year old self knew that only boys got to grow up and be preachers.

When I was in middle school at a conservative Christian school, I listened to my female teachers (who loved us dearly) lecture us on the dangers of dressing immodestly. We were lined up against the wall and our skirts were measured one by one to prove the point. I remember our principal's wife telling us about her unbuttoned shirt and a boy who made unwanted advances.

"When I got home, my mothers slapped me and said I should have known better. And you know what, girls. I know now she was right."

My friends and I laughed it off. From then on, she was known as the Purity Pirate, but I remember thinking that I was glad my little sister wasn't there that day for girl's chapel.

Soon after, I began to joke with my best friend that we were closeted feminists. We had no idea what that meant really, but we were pretty sure it meant that we thought girls were just as good as every boy in our class.

I began to feel a call to ministry in the deep places of my heart. I was looking into Bible colleges, but getting a degree in being a pastor's wife seemed terrible. The colleges I visited felt heavy and suffocating. So I began to feel led into missions, because when you're in the mission field, you don't have to be a missionary's wife, but just a missionary.

But then I met my first "real' feminist. She came and taught us AP English my junior and senior year. She was a Democrat with a PhD who called herself a feminist. She was everything I wanted to be. She had seen the world, spoke multiple languages, had a beautiful family and loved Jesus more than anyone I ever met.

I remember telling her my fears over disobeying God by not going to a Christian college, begging her to tell me how you know something is God's will for your life.

And she must have taken pity on my frazzled awkward seventeen year old self because she asked me a question. She asked me what was God's will for my life was for that day. I remember stuttering something about being a good student and a good friend and daughter. About loving the people God placed in my life.

"Exactly. So go do that. And what's God's will for your life tomorrow?"

"The same thing?"

"Right, so just take it one day at a time. God will lead you when you get there."

And those words were freedom.

And those words were the beginning.

The story, of course, continued. I would pack up my bags the next year and move a few states away for (a decidedly not Christian) college. Soon I would have my first female pastor and the summer I would spend as her intern in a struggling church would change me. I would fall more in love with the Bible and decide this was it. This was what I wanted to do forever.

I would fall in love with a boy with kind eyes and crazy hair who loved God but not in the skinny jean, worship leader kind of way like all the other boys I knew.  I would read and study and preach and meet more Jesus-loving women (and men) who continued to teach me more and more what becoming more like Christ can look like.

But this piece of advice from my first Jesus feminist set me free to go and follow after God wherever that led me, to set aside the life script of a good Christian woman and just love Jesus.

This post is a part of Sarah Bessey's synchroblog celebrating the release of her book, Jesus Feminist. Be sure to check it out! 

Why Do You Show Up

Why do you come to church? 

No, seriously. When was the last time you thought about it. Why do you get out of bed, get dressed up and go to church? Why don’t you just sleep in and then go have a nice brunch somewhere? 

What is it that makes you keep showing up? 

Is it the people? Is it the people you’ve known for years and you look forward to their fellowship? The handshakes, the smiles, the warm greetings? The fact people will miss you if you’re not there? 

Is it the worship? Is it the chance to hear the organ play or the choir sing? Does it keep you coming back? 

What about the ministries? Why do you show up and serve? There are other ways to serve the community. There are other ways you could spend your time. 

And why in the world do you come to church meetings? I know there are family meals that you are skipping to spend your evenings with us church people as we discuss finances and ministry programs...

Read more at the SSUMC ministry blog

Teenagers, two-pieces and me.

I don't know if anyone else on the internet noticed this, but there was a lot written concerning modesty, purity and swim suits this summer. Or maybe its like this every summer and I just never paid attention before.

But this summer, I read them all. Every blog post. I read this one which argues the phrase Modest is Hottest is harmful. I read this one which compares women's bodies to chocolate cake. I watched Jessica Rey talk about the evolution of the swim suit in this video and there were many many more.

And in the abstract, they all made sense. But none of them told me what to do when your youth ask you if they can wear two pieces on the youth mission trip (which included a trip to a beach). It's one thing for me to be okay with rocking my two piece and for all my Christ-loving friends to do the same. It's another thing for me to tell my teenage girls at the beach they can do it too, right?

What if I say they can and that makes me the worst youth pastor in the world? What if they all wear string bikinis and spend the whole time making out with the boys? What if I affirm the world's teachings that they need to dress scantily in order to be accepted?

What if I say they can't and then I'm a big ol' hypocrite? What if I add to a shame culture found within the Church that tells them their bodies are something to be hidden?

I was seriously stressing. And I was praying. And I was reading (because apparently reading is how I try to solve all my problems) .

But God must have taken pity on me, because then I stumbled upon this from Rachel Held Evans:

"So my advice for women looking for bathing suits this season is this: Don’t dress  for men; dress for yourself. It's not your responsibility to please men with either your sex appeal or your modesty; each man is different, so it would be a fool's errand anyway. Instead, prioritize strength, dignity and good deeds, and then dress accordingly. 

Find something that makes you comfortable. Find something that is ethically made. Find something that gives you the freedom to run with abandon into those incoming waves—hot sand tickling your feet, warm sun tingling your skin—and revel in this body and this world God gave you to enjoy." 

And that was it. That was what I wanted for my youth.

I want them to be comfortable in their skin and in their swim suits. I wanted them to not worry about what they were wearing. I wanted them to be able to run and jump and laugh and do wheelbarrow races down the beach. I wanted them to not feel self-conscious about how they look. I wanted them to love the body God gave them and the world God created.

So we talked about it and I said they could wear two pieces and I told them I wanted them to be comfortable and I wanted them to be able to move around freely.

And that was that.

We went on the trip. We went to the beach. And there were a whole host of different bathing suits represented (one pieces, tankinis, those two pieces with short bottoms, bikinis, etc).

And you know what, it wasn't a big deal.

And I'll have you know that as I watched my girls practice their handstands on the beach, nap under the tent, splash each other in the ocean and even (at one strange moment) race horse shoe crabs down the beach, it really did seem like I was witnessing a little tiny piece of the Kingdom of God.

Amen.

That day I became official?

I finally got a name plate added to my office door, just a few days shy of my second work-iverary at this church.

And now, as I sit in said office, writing a sermon, planning a mission trip and outlining the fall schedule, I must say I feel very official.