I Hate Goodbyes

Before my last sermon as the pastor of Catawba UMC I showed this clip to lighten the mood.  I think it helped.  I will never forget my time as the pastor of this amazing group of people.  A few memories:

- My first Sunday I shook hands with James Lowrance and said "Hi, I'm Rich" he said "I'm poor."  Turns out he thought I was a member of the youth group.

- Mikayla and Bayley's first time hearing an organ...they were so surprised by the sound.

- Holding the hands of Mikayla and Bayley as they danced to some of the faster songs...Mikayla stopped doing this within the first year...I think it took Bayley about two years.

- Forgetting the water for Hayden's Baptism...thank you to the Brackett's for laughing with me about it instead of being mad!

- The Santa Clause situation (I know it wasn't a fun time in the life of the church, but it was an important time that I will always remember).  I know I could've handled it with a lot more maturity and often wish I could go back and do it over.  I would still make the same decision but I would have handled it with wisdom and carefulness.

- The CCC trips.  These mission trips were tremendous times of growth in my own faith and I'm thankful for the church supporting such an amazing ministry.

- The hiking, sunshine club, youth and superstars trips.  Such great times of fun and fellowship.

- Ronnie taking me skeet shooting and target shooting.  I think I used about 10 different guns.  So fun and I want to do it again!

- The phone calls to Phillip about something wrong with the parsonage or one of our cars and his willingness to always help.

- The overall grace, generosity and love that me and my family received by the people of this church...thank you doesn't quite do our gratitude justice.

Since I hate goodbyes...I will just say "until next time."

Joel Osteen

I don't want to be too harsh...because I think his heart is in the right place and I'm sure I've made similar mistakes in my messages...but for him to post this in writing without knowing the chronology of the OT and without taking the time to research it is pretty ridiculous for someone as well known and respected as Joel Osteen:

http://dailycaller.com/2014/09/19/americas-most-popular-pastor-doesnt-know-the-bible/

Be more careful next time Joel!

Oceans

This song has become so meaningful to me with the new adventure ahead with Covenant Community Church.  This transition has created mixed emotions of joy, worry, excitement, fear, anticipation, nervousness, hope and a great sense of appreciation.  I have also found a new reliance on God for guidance and wisdom.  I definitely feel this is a calling "upon the waters" where at times I will be in over my head...I also know that God will not fail me!

And this is by far the best version of the song...enjoy:

Moving

We will be needing one of these soon:

I made the announcement at church this past Sunday.  We are moving to Asheville to begin ministry at Covenant Community Church: http://www.cccasheville.org/.

The transition began this year at Annual Conference in June when I heard that Covenant had become available.  The pastor appointed there had decided to leave the denomination.  I expressed interest in being the pastor of the church and on the evening of Monday August 18th I received the phone call that I had been chosen to be the pastor.  My District Superintendent's first words were "are you sure you want to live in the mountains?"

I believe with everything in me that God orchestrated this move.  There are several reasons I say this.

-Chrys (my wife) is a vegetarian, buys organic most of the time and is into supporting fairly traded products. She has always wanted to live in Asheville and will have easy access to all of those items.

-About two months ago we discovered that she was losing her part-time job in Rock Hill, SC which meant that would no longer be a factor in an appointment for me.  Even with her connections and credentials she has not been able to find something similar.

-She has always wanted to be a stay at home mom and she will be able to do that in Asheville (she may still take some sort of very part time work but we will see).

-I met the District Superintendent of the Blue Ridge District where Covenant is located at a Duke Rural Convocation Conference at Myrtle Beach in early August.  We had never met and had the opportunity to hang out several times together.  He was the only DS from our conference present at this event.

-My parents have been keeping my daughters since they were born once a week for us.  My mom said before I even told her about the possibility of  a move that she had a feeling they wouldn't be keeping the girls much longer.

-Whether it was just psychological or God revealing somehting to me, I had two dreams before I was told about the appointment that we lived in Asheville and I was the pastor at Covenant.

While I am excited about the opportunity, I will miss the people of Catawba UMC.  This church has been a wonderful appointment and there is so much I will miss about being here.  I will save the details of what I will miss for the last article I write for the newsletter.

Good things are ahead for Catawba and for Covenant!

I'm Back

I haven't blogged in 9 months...I have decided it's time to get back at it.  I will post more about my decision to start blogging again in the next post that should be up tomorrow.

Faith Flicks: Life of Pi

Sermon from November 24th, 2013

If someone came to you and said they had a story that would make you believe in God, you would listen wouldn’t you.  That’s the setup for the book and movie Life of Pi.

Life of Pi is another book made into movie.  The book was written by Yann Martel and it’s a book for which he won numerous literary honors.  I read the book about 5 years ago and I loved it.  So I was excited when I saw that a movie was being made about it.  The movie came out around this time last year and won 4 Academy awards.  Like most book to movie adaptations, the book is better.  However, they did an incredible bringing the book to the big screen.  This is one of the best book to movie adaptations that I have seen.  

            The story is about a boy named Pi who grows up in India and as a young teenager claims to be a Hindu, Christian and Muslim all at the same time.  Pi’s father owns a zoo but financially things are hard.  So the father sells the zoo and they are shipping the animals to Canada on a Japanese Cargo ship which sinks and Pi finds himself on a life boat with a Hyena, Orangutan, Zebra and Bengal Tiger.   As you can probably imagine it comes down to two survivors: Pi and the Tiger who is named Richard Parker. 

            The story is told from the perspective of a writer who had discovered from a family member that Pi had a story that would “make him believe in God.”  So as the older Pi tells his story to this author, the book and movie flashback to what was actually taking place.  Eventually Pi washes up on the shores of Mexico, 227 days after the ship sank and recounts 2 versions of the story to the Japanese Owners of the boat who want to know what happened to their boat. Pi offers the same facts but with two different interpretations.

In the first version, Pi is the sole human survivor on a lifeboat with a zebra, hyena, orangutan and a huge Bengal tiger called Mr. Parker. The second has no animals and is far more brutal. One requires suspension of disbelief; the other is “reasonable”.  When they ask him which one is true he asks them which one is better?  They tell him which one they think is better and Pi says “so it is with God.”  Which leaves the audience and the reader wide open to interpret the message the author intended.

You have to be prepared to choose to walk away from the “reasonable” interpretation to accept the better story.  To have faith.  In the film, Pi retells the story and convinces two skeptics to overcome one of the largest barriers to faith – believing in the unbelievable. One of those characters does claim in the end that he does believe in God.

            So the idea with the movie is that believing in God is purposeful and beautiful and and a better story whether it’s true or not…it’s not the point…the point is to have faith in something that you can’t prove but that offers something that human beings need: like hope, like love, like purpose and meaning.  The author is not so worried about whether or not a religion is true…but whether or not religion offers humanity a better story of how to live life.

So while I could tell you all day long that that there are enough extra-biblical texts, literature outside of the text of the Bible, that points to the historicity of the life, death and yes resurrection of Jesus Christ, I can’t prove it to you.  I could tell you that the one piece of data that keeps me believing in Christianity on a rational , fact based level is the actions of the disciples before and after the death and resurrection of Jesus.  When Jesus gets arrested his disciples are hiding behind locked doors.  They are worried and scared doing what they can to disassociate themselves with Jesus because they don’t want to be arrested either.  After the resurrection all of a sudden these same disciples who were scared and worried and hiding because they feared for their lives…now all of a sudden they are willing to die because of their faith.  Something as big and supernatural as the resurrection of Jesus Christ would have had to have happened for them to do a total 180 and not worry about their own lives.   So I believe that Jesus is who he said he was and that there is some historical data that backs that up.  However, I could never prove the resurrection to anyone without a shadow of a doubt. 

            I want to explore the question that’s asked in Life of Pi…is the better story to believe in God or not believe in God.  Just for a few minutes let’s not worry about whether or not the story is true…let’s look at it through the lens of which story is better: a God or no God?

            At let me tell you, I don’t ever remember a time when I didn’t believe in God…so this is really hard for me to do.  But here’s what I imagine would be my thoughts and questions if I did live life believing that God does not exist. 

            If there is no God then it stands to reason that everything in creation is by natural evolution apart from intelligent design.  So that I could still enjoy the beauty of creation but I would wonder about the purpose of creation.  My question would be does creation have meaning?  One of my favorite books is called Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller.  The tagline is “Nonreligious thoughts on Christian Spirituality.”  It’s an awesome and easy read that was made into a movie in 2012.  In the movie the main character Don is attending a debate about whether or not God exists.  He asks the atheist who is debating there is no God about meaning.  The man says “The universe doesn't owe us meaning, son. If you want meaning, I suggest you try a dictionary.”  If there is no God it is hard to find meaning, to find purpose.  Love can be a purpose…but are we ourselves the source of that love?  Doing good things can give us purpose, but isn’t there something more to this life than just doing good?  Do we find ultimate purpose and meaning in love and in doing good things in and of themselves. 

            I believe in God and find myself thinking that there is more to this life than what I am currently experiencing, I think that angst and search for meaning and purpose would be hyped up even more if I didn’t believe in God.

            Another thing about this is that I think it takes more faith to believe God does not exist than it does to believe that God does exist.  For example let’s say you are invited to someone’s house for dinner.  You enter the dining room and laid before you is a beautiful, aromatic spread of food.  Does it take more faith to believe that no one prepared that food or that someone prepared that food?  You didn’t actually see anyone making the food and putting it on the table so how do you know someone actually made it?  What if a small tornado came through the kitchen and dining room and what formed is what is found on the table?  That takes more faith than the simple idea that whoever invited you to dinner actually took the time to make the food and put it on the table for you to enjoy.

            Which is the better story…that someone prepared the food for you to enjoy or that it came about randomly?  Which story is more meaningful?  Now I know that there are problems with that analogy, but it’s just an analogy.

            My point is this: whatever we believe, whether in something or in nothing, whatever we choose will take faith.  Whatever we believe will lead to unanswered and unanswerable questions.  Whatever we choose to believe or not believe will require us to be okay with mystery.  Whatever we choose to believe will shape our values and the way we live our lives.  Whether Christianity is true or not, I think it is a better story.

            The story that there is a God who loves us enough to send his only son as a demonstration of His love is a beautiful story that gives meaning and purpose to life.  The idea that the Holy Spirit is present with us in the midst of a cancer diagnoses or an unwanted divorce …that’s a better story.  The solidarity that God has with his creation because he chose to become one of us…he doesn’t just think he knows what it means to suffer…he became one of us and suffered just like us and he knows what it means to suffer and that’s why one day he’s going to make everything right…that’s the better story.  That when we lose a loved one unexpectedly we can trust that we have a God who knows and understands grief and doesn’t take the grief away, but see’s us through so that we come to the other side of those hard and intense emotions with  softer heart for others who have lost a loved one.  That’s the better story.

            I want to read John 1:1-18.  I’m not going to teach this text this morning, I’m sure a time will come when I do dig in and really teach what John is saying in these words.  But this morning, I want you to rest and relax and let these words sink in as something beautiful and meaningful and good.  I want these words to sink in this morning as the better story.  As something you just receive as you hear them.  Something good and life-giving and restoring to your soul.  Will you hear the word.  Read John 1:1-18: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%201:1-18&version=NIV

       What kind of story are you telling with the way you live your life?

Faith Flicks: The Hunger Games

      Sermon from November, 17th

        The Hunger Games is a three book series written by Suzanne Collins about a girl named Katniss Everdeen (I love her name) and her struggle to survive in a future world, in a post-apocalyptic world set in North America but now called Panem.  At some point, war and environmental disaster destroyed the United States, and out of the remnants grew the new country of Panem. The nation consists of a wealthy Capitol city, located in the Rocky Mountain region, with 12 poorer districts surrounding it. There was at one time a 13th district, but it supposedly was destroyed by the Capitol during a rebellion some 75 years prior to the events in the books.  Panem is ruled by the Capitol in a totalitarian regime. The Capitol asserts complete control over the 12 districts, forcing the people there to abide by strict rules and work in industries that supply the needs of the Capitol.  It’s an oppressive situation for those living in the 12 districts. Those fortunate  enough to live in the Capitol live in luxury and excessiveness.  They are overconsumers…so much so that many of the people are not satisfied with their human beauty, but resort to coloring their skin and disfiguring their bodies.

            The title The Hunger Games comes from one of the ways the Capitol exerts its control over the districts.  Each year two children, one male and one female 12-18 years old, are chosen by lottery as “tributes” (that’s what they are called) to participate in, or more accurately, be sacrificed in, a reality TV show that where these children are forced to fight to the death.  And the last one remaining wins that year’s Hunger Games and becomes a celebrity.  All citizens in Panem are required to watch the games.  The Capitol set up the games as retribution for a failed rebellion against the Capitol’s rule.  It’s a way to control the citizens and remind them of who has the power.

            We first meet Katniss on reaping day, the day when the children are chosen from the districts to compete in the Hunger Games. When her younger sister Prim's name is drawn in the District 12 reaping, Katniss volunteers to take her place in the arena. Joining her from District 12 is Peeta Mellark, the baker's son who had once saved Katniss' life by giving her bread when she was desperately hungry. With their mentor Haymitch Abernathy, the solitary District 12 victor from a past Hunger Games, they are taken to the Capitol for complete makeovers, games training and to be paraded in front of the adoring Capitol crowds eager to see them get slaughtered.

            One thing we learn about Katniss is that before her father died in a mining accident, he taught her how to hunt in the woods, which was forbidden by the Capitol who use trained policemen to make sure that their rules are followed, these police are ironically called “Peacekeepers.”  Katniss would sneak off in the woods and hunt with a bow and arrow to provide for her family and for some others in the District 12.  Just a side note, much of the film was shot in Shelby, Asheville and Concord, NC. The sunshine club actually took a trip to see where District 12 was shot, it was neat.

Katniss proves to be a formidable tribute in the Hunger Games. She knows how to hunt and how to survive in the woods. And the reason the games are called the Hunger Games is because if a child isn’t killed by another contestant then they will probably starve or thirst to death. The setting of the Hunger Games is a huge arena where the games could last for days and days and days.

Through a series of events and really one subversive act of mutual sacrifice, Katniss and Peeta both win the 74th Hunger Games. By having two victors they have changed the rules. Katniss becomes a symbol of hope for all the other districts and she doesn’t even realize it right away.

            The second novel Catching Fire begins with the couple’s Victory Tour six months after they are named champions. The ruthless government of Panem is not pleased with the admiration the crowds show for Katniss and Peeta . The President fears that other people under oppression will follow the couple’s example and defy the government. The couple must fight again in the 75th Hunger Games. The second book ends, as Katniss and her allies unleash a revolution, another rebellion against society’s corrupt rulers, against the Capitol and especially the president.

In Mockingjay, the final book of the trilogy, Katniss becomes the face of a nationwide rebellion. At the end of the book, after many twists and turns, Katniss secures freedom for her people. After she experiences great personal loss and has been through just terrible, The Hunger Games have ended and the oppressive regime that was in power is destroyed.  So as dark as it is, it ends well.

Again, like last week with How to Train your dragon, there are several themes found in the Bible that I could use this movie as a platform to explore.  There’s the theme of love and sacrifice (of course there’s a love triangle going on in the book, you can’t a Young Adult book without that right, but there is the theme of sacrificial love as well), there’s the theme of how to have hope when you are under oppression, there’s the theme of grief and loss, there’s the theme of survival and the importance of family and friends.  There’s the theme of desenzitation towards violence and the role of entertainment in our lives.  There’s the theme of excess and scarcity, having enough resources to feed all people in Panem, yet some people are starving and some are living in ridiculous luxury and excess.

Hopefully you can already see some of the parallels with modern society and hopefully you can see how some of these themes are important to God and should be important to us.  I want us to look at the theme of thirst and hunger.  Afterall, it’s title is the Hunger Games and the Bible has quite a bit to say regarding thirst and hunger.

There are two types of thirst and hunger in the Bible. There’s the literally thirst and hunger that was a matter of physical life or death. We tend to forget that the entire Bible is set in a time when they did not have indoor or outdoor plumbing.  The people of the Bible, all of them, could not just turn on a faucet for water.  So if you were thirsty and you had run out of water that you had gathered from the rain or from the river or from the lake, if your family is out of water, you have to walk miles to get the water and bring it back.  And what happens if you don’t make it back in time?  So when we think of being thirsty, it is not a thirsty like, oh I would like some water because I’m thirsty, it was more like, if I don’t get a drink of water today I will die. It was a matter of life and death.

In Jesus’ day, poverty was not like what it is today. There were no social institutions, or local soup kitchens or warm places to stay overnight, people that were poor, had no options except to beg if you were a man or be a prostitute if you were a woman.  It was sell yourself or die.  And that’s why Jesus talked so strongly about feeding the hungry and giving water to the thirsty, those who needed were in poverty and had no way to live. 

            So we come to a parable Jesus is telling like in Matthew 25 and we see how important feeding the hungry and giving water to the thirsty is: Read 34-46. The assumption Jesus is making in these verses is that if you are truly my disciple, this is what it looks like, feeding the hungry and giving water to the thirsty and clothing the naked.  Because in this culture, it was literally a matter of life and death.  The only options for survival was begging or prostitution, that was it. While poverty looks different today then it did back then our country, we are still called to be generous and selfless and helpful and we are still called to be a blessing to people who aren’t as fortunate as we are.  When I read these verses I am convicted, I hope you are too.

            That’s the literal, physical thirst and hunger. Lets talk about the spiritual thirst and hunger. When is the last time you thirsted for God the way you do when you are thirsty for water? When is the last time you sought God with the same conviction you seek food for your family if you and the ones you loved were starving? Jesus said in John 6:32-35. The psalmist wrote in 42:1-2. Jesus said in Matthew 5:6. When is the last time you took time to seek God because you were hungry and thirsty for Him? If you don’t think you have a spiritual hunger and thirst for God, try living without him. Try it, say no and see how your life turns out. See how your eternity turns out. God doesn’t force himself on anyone, yet, he has placed within each of us a spiritual hunger that only He can fulfill…both on this earth and for all eternity.

            There’s a part in the book towards the beginning of the first Hunger Games that Katniss is in and she has gotten far into the woods but she’s thirsty.  And she knows if she doesn’t find water soon that she will die of dehydration.  And so she wonders why her mentor, her trainer, Haymitch hasn’t sent her any water.  Because he can do that...he could pay the people who run the Hunger Games to send her a bottle of water from the sky.  But he doesn’t.  And at this point she is so dehydrated that she is crawling and feeling dizzy and she knows the symptoms.  And she wonders is my mentor, the one that is supposed to be helping me, is he going to just let me die.  Then she realizes that the reason he’s not sending water is because she must be close to a water source.  And it turns out to be true.  He didn’t want to use the precious resources he had to send her water when she was so close to it already.  And she finds water and ends up being okay.  By the way, the movie does not do a good job of portraying scene, that I thought was so powerful.

            Unlike Haymitch who was limited by how much he could help Katniss, we have a God of unlimited resources. In fact we have a God who is our source of satisfying our spiritual thirsts and hungers. The only question is…are you seeking after him?  Are seeking after righteousness?  Are you hungry for justice to be done in this world?  Do you thirst after being more like God so that you can overcome the forces of wickedness in this world? Just like in the world of the Hunger Games, there is evil in this world…what are you doing about it? Are you a beacon of hope and life and truth and justice and faith…or are you a contributor to the evils?  We have a God who desires to overcome the evils in this with love, with forgiveness, with joy, with hope, with grace, with mercy…how are you doing with those things? 

            May we be the kind of people that thirst and hunger after God so that we can make a difference in this world.  Katniss becomes a symbol of hope.  Jesus is our symbol of hope…are you pointing people to him?