Timing

Yesterday's Bible reflection (When is the right time?) is expanded and stretched and it's now the Ash Wednesday sermon at Union Congregational United Church of Christ in Somonauk, IL.
"Timing" text
"Timing" podcast

When is the right time?

The right time for what?

In romance, it seems we always hear the words, “You’ll know when the time is right – you’ll just know.”

In real estate, the three most important things to remember are location, location, and location. But I think the fourth most important thing is picking the right time to buy and the right time to sell.  (I guess that works for any kind of investment.)

There’s the right time to stay and the right time to move on. The right time to thrive with the status quo and the right time to make a change. 

It’s not easy to know the right time – for just about anything. 

2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 may not answer all the above “When is the right time?” questions, but it does describe when it is time to be reconciled to God.

Now.

No obstacles. No excuses. No worries.

Now.

How?

What do you think?

A Voice

This week's Bible reflection (New shirt) is all dressed up and ready as Sunday's sermon at Union Congregational United Church of Christ in Somonauk, IL.

"A Voice" text
"A Voice" podcast

New Shirt

I looked at one of my white dress shirts a few days back. It seemed a little worse for wear. It had all its buttons and it even fit well, but the collar, something that used to be as bright white as the shirt, was no longer, uh, dazzling.

I’ve tried special “ring around the collar” laundry detergents.  I’ve tried bleach. I’ve asked the cleaners to pay special attention to the discolored collar.  I’ve even tried some of the “miracle white” type “amazing” detergents.

The collar was, and still is, no longer dazzling.

I bought a new shirt. It looks nice.  And I’ve gotta say that the collar is . . . dazzling.

In this week’s Bible reading from Mark 9:2-9, Jesus went up on the mountain with Peter, James, and John.  While they were up there, Jesus didn’t get a new shirt.  Instead, his clothes became dazzling white – like no detergent, bleach, laundry specialist, “miracle white” detergent, or even a new shirt could become.

What did it mean? Peter had no idea. I think he saw the dazzling Jesus and said the first thing that he could think of that didn’t sound completely off.

“This is good – let me help everyone feel at home.”

I love that Peter’s first thought was about hospitality in a situation that was unnerving, surprising, and terrifying.

I wonder if he asked if he could get a new shirt, too- or at least a way to make his clothes look like that.

Disobedience

This week's insides-twisting Bible reflection (Sick to my stomach) provides part of the beginning for what is now Sunday's sermon at Union Congregational United Church of Christ in Somonauk, IL. 
"Disobedience" text
"Disobedience" podcast 

Sick to my stomach

Sometimes it’s a bug.  Sometimes it’s something I ate. It doesn’t happen too often in either of those ways, but there are life moments where I remember feeling sick to my stomach.

And then there are other times where an emotional response makes me feel exactly the same way. When one of my children appears to have been injured while doing some ill-advised skateboard stunt it happens. When I feel so much stress from bad news, festering anger, or (but Christians don’t do that?!) worry, it happens.

And then there’s another “sick to my stomach” connection. When I see or even hear about God’s children being treated as if they don’t matter or as if they are somehow less worthy of care, compassion, and attention, I get angry. I don’t what to paint myself as someone who always responds to what is wrong in the world with anger or as someone who is always seeking to help others and doesn’t enjoy living with the nice things in life.

Nonetheless, injustice makes me angry. It turns my insides into knots and makes me feel sick to my stomach.

Jesus saw a man with a skin disease.  This man was thought of a less worthy of care, compassion, and attention by the culture of the time. And Jesus’ insides were tied up in knots and he felt sick to his stomach.

The word translated as “moved with pity” in this week’s reading from Mark 1:40-45, splagchnizomai, (splangkh-nid'-zom-ahee) carries with it a sense of having one’s bowels twisted into knots. 

Jesus responded, sick to his stomach, by healing the many with the skin disease. 

Jesus could do that kind of stuff.

What makes you sick to your stomach? How do you respond?

Deserted place

This week's Bible reflection (Getting away from it all) is present and pretty easy to find in what is now Sunday's sermon at Union Congregational United Church of Christ in Somonauk, IL.
"Deserted Place" text
"Deserted Place" podcast

Getting away from it all

Jesus was tired. He’d been talking and healing. People were following him everywhere. I can imagine that the pace and the crowds were sucking the life out of him. Instead of being energized by the crowd and all the hoopla, Jesus needed to recharge – away from it all.

So he disappeared. He went away from it all – to a deserted place. He probably breathed deep and took in the blessed solitude as he prayed.

And the disciples didn’t get it. They hunted for him. They had a schedule to keep. They had people to please. When they found him they even scolded him. "Everyone is searching for you."

I think others in Jesus’ situation might have said, “So?! Let everyone wait! I need a break! Just leave me alone for a little while -- I’ll find you when I’m ready for everyone.” I think Jesus probably wanted to say something like that – or perhaps something a little stronger.

Instead, I imagine he took a deep breath and said – “Let’s go. Let’s go to some of the smaller places. I think those folks need to see and hear all this, too.”

I think Jesus found a little more time to rejuvenate by traveling to the smaller places where folks hadn’t yet heard as much of him.

Good for him.

• Are there times, places, and life situations where your energy is being sucked dry?
• Do you need to get away from it all, take a deep breath, and experience the blessed solitude as you pray?
• Do you need to go somewhere else?

What is This?

This week's Bible reflection (Unclean Spirit) provides the challenging beginning to what is now Sunday's sermon at Union Congregational United Church of Christ in Somonauk, IL.
"What is This?" text
"What is This?" podcast

Unclean Spirit

Jesus cast out an unclean spirit from a man who interrupted him.

The ‘unclean spirit’ places in the Bible make me uncomfortable. In the time of Jesus, folks with brain disorders/mental illnesses were thought to be possessed by unclean spirits. That idea has carried through in religious circles long after medicine has identified brain disorders/mental illness and has found ways, in many instances, to treat it. The “pray away the demon” theology is harmful to folks who suffer from brain disorders/mental illness. I believe that God is capable of healing any illness – and that God has given us the ability to continually find more effective treatments to disease. Merely “praying away the demon” ignores God’s presence in medicine as well as prayer.

What doesn’t make me uncomfortable about this instance of Jesus casting out an unclean spirit is that he did it without any fancy rituals – as the healers of the day would have done – and that when the man was healed the folks “got” that Jesus was something way outside what they’d ever experienced – he was the real thing while others were just pretenders.

• Jesus' way is one of restoration – not disdain. Have you ever treated someone with a brain disorder/mental illness, or any disability, as an outcast who just needed to “snap out of it?” 
• Jesus' way of restoration is also one that has everything to do with justice for those who are outcast.

What are you doing individually – How are you involved in community to bring restoration and justice to those who are outcast?

How Wide is Your Welcome?

Ben  D. Anderson is a friend of mine.  He's also the founder of  Break Through, Inc. Break Through is a non-profit organization that provides leadership training to churches, community civic groups, schools, universities, businesses, and professional groups.  Ben was born with cerebral palsy, grew up in the small town of Kenmare, North Dakota. He's a 1992 graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Stout at Menomonie, Wisconsin and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Vocational Rehabilitation with an emphasis in community-based rehabilitation. Ben shared a moving and inspirational message today at  Union Congregational United Church of Christ in Somonauk, IL.  If you'd like more information about Ben or you'd like to contact him to have him come speak at your church or other organization, please visit his website. 

“How Wide is Your Welcome?” podcast

Tea Party Jesus: Sermon on the Mall

What do you do?

Whenever you meet someone, you usually ask, at some point, “What do you do?” as a way to find out what their job is. It seems to be “the thing” that folks have the easiest time talking about – at least in the awkward beginnings of conversations with folks you’ve never met.

What you do? What you have always wanted to do?

If you got the opportunity to do that, how would you respond?

In this week’s Bible reading from Mark 1:14-20, Jesus came along and offered Simon, Andrew, James, and John the opportunity to do the thing that they always wished they could do – be the disciples of a rabbi. (Only the brightest and best got that honor. These four had been passed over by the other rabbis.)

They responded by going for it. They jumped at the opportunity – without a net. (Please forgive the pun – but “the left without taking their fishing nets” doesn’t have the same pun appeal)

If you discovered and knew that God was calling you in a new direction, what would you do?

Only Light, Only Love

You Get Me

This week's Bible reflection (A Window to the Soul) begins the sermon for Martin Luther King, jr. Sunday at Union Congregational United Church of Christ in Somonauk, IL.
"You Get Me" text
"You Get Me" podcast