Fight Ignorance - MuslimVoices.org

Today the dogs got me up a whole lot earlier than I would have liked. Because I got up early I showered early. Because I showered early I got dressed early. Because I got dressed early I was ready to go early so I left the house at 7:20am, a whole 20 minutes later than I would have liked to have gotten up. Awake and hungry I took breakfast at Panera here in Grandview and enjoyed a bagel while reading the paper. Following a story concerning the Ohio Budget to page A6 I noticed a not-so-small add featuring an everyday looking guy with the phrase "I like football too..." right above the web-address MuslimVoices.Org. Curious, when I got to work I checked it out and I was impressed with the goals and aims of this project of Indiana University.

If you follow the above link to MuslimVoices.org you have the ability to access a wonderful resource of information that seeks to replace misinformation and increase understanding amongst individuals and groups. What I really like about this site is that beyond opinion pieces about various political positions there are articles that are written for folks who want to know more about their Muslim brothers and sisters. Articles such as The Five Pillars of Islam and Do Muslims Eat Meat? are written (audio is also available) in a very accessible way. If you would like to increase your own personal awareness or would like to answer the questions of your children I would check this site out.

This summer, as both James and myself have mentioned before, we are tackling a sermon and summer theme of All God's Children which seeks to take seriously our call to be a welcoming, open church. At the center of this call is the foundation that no matter who or where we are, we are all part of this same larger family. For this reason I am going to be launching a blog-series for the remainder of the summer entitled Fight Ignorance. My goal is to present resources that help us understand people who have different faiths, cultures, or have been deemed "Other" by the church, by society or culture. My goal is not "know thy enemy" nor is it "know them so that we know how to save them.". Rather my hope is that information found in this series will help dispel ignorance and replace it with understanding so that we might be better neighbors, friends, and citizens in this world that we share.

I will write weekly on this subject. Look for next week's post Fight Ignorance - Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality.

Sermon: Them & Us - Acts 11:1-18

The following sermon was delivered on Sunday, June 28th. It is based on Acts 11:1-18.

As I have grown older I have come to understand something that has helped me live my life and understand the world around me. It isn’t a terribly popular opinion but I am convinced that God is not in the business of making your or my life any easier. Churches with Pastors who are on TV don’t agree with me and every time I see one of those talking heads look straight into the camera and say that if you believe enough and you do enough then your life is going to be super I just don’t buy it. God is not in the business of making your life easier, better, richer, fuller, yes…easier? No. Easy isn’t a word that I would use to describe life in God nor would it be a word that I would use to describe faith and while Jesus describes his yoke as easy I don’t think that the 2009 and the Ancient Israel definition of easy line up. Today easy means having the dry cleaners pick up your shirts, clean and press them, drop them off, and automatically bill your checking account. Easy means having a robot that vacuums for you and returns to its docking station to recharge. There was no automatic withdrawal or vacuuming robots in Jesus’ time. When Ancients thought of easy they were thinking of something else.

Proof of this is never hard to find. Take Jesus. Jesus, God’s Son, fully human fully divine, comes and walks amongst us telling us “you have heard it said, but I say unto you.” Jesus takes the world that we know, the world that we can operate in just fine; Jesus takes that comfortable flow chart we use for everyday-living our and throws it out the window. Through Jesus we learn that God is not a fan of the easy how-to formula. Rather through Jesus we learn that God is most interested in relationships and community – two of the absolutely hardest, heart-breaking, infuriating things on Earth. Because God favors depth over shallow, the worthwhile over the instant, the journey over the destination, and love over the status quo we are instructed to live our lives seeking after love and truth and grace which lie at the very foundation of both healthy relationships and strong community. We do this despite the tried and true survival techniques that seek to champion easy, stress-free living. We follow God and live with each other in perhaps the hardest, most challenging way possible: in relationship and community with each other.

I bring all this up…all this about God not out to make our lives easier and God desiring relationships over formulaic living… because for me our reading for today illustrates all this so beautifully. Peter’s recap of what took place in Caesarea and beyond gives us a glimpse into what living in God’s will entails for those who take living in relationship with God seriously. For as many times as we have thought we knew what was right, what was the Will of God, and who is in and who was out…for as many times as we found comfort and security in our formula, our checklist for being right with God… God steps in and says “if I say it is good it is good” and now we are forced to reconcile the fact that where the Spirit of the Living God blows truth will be found. So it is with the Spirit of the Living God. Where God’s Spirit dwells it dwells and no formula or rulebook is going to countermand that. The truth is that If God is going to make things ok that previously were off limits then that means that you and I are going to have to start paying a whole lot more attention to what the Living God is actually saying and a lot less time dwelling on what you thought God should have said.Not only is this not easy but it is also dangerous. Dangerous because at the very core of this reality is the fact that what you have been taught, who you were taught to stay away from and the places that you have never sought to go could very be and, in the case of Peter, were very much the places where we might be told to go. Peter goes to show that following the Spirit of the Living God takes us to places where the rules that you grew up with, the laws that were handed down to you and the framework through which you have lived your life will not only no longer apply but will not be shared by the people that you meet once you get there. Yet you, we, us have been sent there by the same God who sent Christ which so happens to be the same God who sent those who came before us.

Friends, the truth is that no matter who we are now, at one point we were the people in the house waiting for Peter’s words & the not faithful on the road with Peter. It is too easy to forget that we all started off as Gentiles and not the established, accepted church that we may see ourselves now. The reason that we are who we are is because at some point in history the Spirit of the Living God directed people into the not-so-easy, into the hard business of forming community and building relationships with people like you and me. They came from far away places or right around the block. They were both male and female, young and old, rich and poor and at some point God sent them into our very own Cesasera and when the time was right and the Holy Spirit was sensed in our midst we became their brothers and sisters too. For we were in that house before we got to this church.

In closing I want to challenge all of us to not end up like Rip Van Winkle. You remember Rip, don’t you? Went to sleep up in the Catskills one day and King George III picture was hanging up on the wall. When he woke up and came down from that hill it was George Washington’s mug hanging where the King of England’s painting once resided. Reflecting on this story Martin Luther King writes that for those who are not awake to what is going on in the world and for us our churches, we risk sleeping through a great revolution. The spirit is leading a great sea-change in the way that the church is to reform in the years to come. Certainly all this talk about the Holy Spirit leading a revolution can seem very esoteric, and I understand that, but I confident that it is time that we start becoming a little more fluent in the language of the Spirit. The Spirit is not out making the world an easier, more comfortable place to be. The Spirit is leading a revolution of community; challenging the cultures and whole societies understanding of who is them and who is us. We must strive to stay awake. Slumber at this crucial hour means that when we finally do wake up to the world around us we will stand there and stare at the newly hung picture of the church of Jesus Christ and be forced to admit that we do not recognize it.

Note: Reference to Martin Luther King taken from the chapter entitled The World House from his landmark work Why We Can't Wait

To Boldly Go...

I have been thinking a great deal about Star Trek as of late. I think it has something to do with my upcoming sermon. As I mentioned earlier I am preaching on Acts 11:1-18 which tells the story of Peter recounting the events that led up to him being led by the Holy Spirit to share the Word of God and Baptize Gentiles...which was a no-no back in the day. Now, let me be clear, I am not a Star Trek nut. I don't know much outside of what some causal viewership gets you but I am, like most, very familiar with the goals of the USS Enterprise. As far as I can tell it was the job and call of the USS Enterprise and their crew "to boldly go where no man (read everybody) has gone before" and when they got to those far reaching places deal with what they found. The connect with my Acts passage is that this is what they had been charged with, not what they came up with themselves. The Federation (or whatever it was called) charged them, called them, and put the right team together so that they would live into their orders. My guess, no matter how gung-ho Capt. Kirk and his crew were it would have been easier, safer, and much more lay back to just put around space seeing what was up.

I am not here to assume that Peter and the early Church was interested in the "if they want to know about Jesus they will find us model" that a lot of churches and folks seem to be into, but I am saying that what the Holy Spirit called Peter to do was as dangerous as messing with some Klingons. Peter, like the USS Enterprise, was charged and called to go to the places that were on the fringe of acceptable, rule-based, law-governed society. It was what was set before him and for Peter and the early Church those places were Gentile places. Now, Jews and Gentiles were like oil and water - they didn't mix. Gentiles were off limits for many reasons and yet when conventional wisdom said stay away the Holy Spirit said come on down. This is what I mean by dangerous. Heading into an unfamiliar place, where the rules that you hold as sacred don't apply and then start talking about faith as the thing that will unite us? Yeah, I think that would be dangerous. Yet as Peter tells us that same Holy Spirit that brought you out of the comfort and the familiar beat you to the place where you were called. The Holy Spirit got there first and started calling some folks in those far away places too. This is the moral of the story I would suggest....where the Spirit leads us will often be to places that require a charge, a call to get there.

I am going to try to explore this further on Sunday...maybe minus the Star Trek. Hope to see you there!

TV saved my life

This AM while I was reading over my email I cam across an article about a 9 year old boy who upon discovering that he had been separated from his family while hiking/camping in the Utah wilderness used what he learned from watching the Discovery Channel's survivor program Man vs. Wild to save himself.

Remembering what he learned while watching the show with his Dad and brothers, Grayson W. proceeded to use his bright yellow rain jacket to leave markers of his location to his would be rescuers. Further following the advice Man vs. Wild's host Bear Grylls, Grayson followed the river down to the lake it flowed into knowing that it was a popular location for campers. It was there that he was discovered by some mounted rescue workers and returned to his worried father whom Grayson greeted with "Happy Father's Day!"
(To read the entire article CLICK HERE)

I have heard stories like this before. Toddler dials 911 to save his Grandpa after Big Bird teaches him how. Man saves neighbors home from wild fires applying what he learned from a magazine in his Dentist's office. Every once in a while we hear of people like Grayson doing something extraordinary based off what they learned from TV or from what they just happened to read. The truth is that we, as a people, are capable of amazing things when we are put in the perfect situation to apply what we know to what is going on. In a lot of ways this is what I am hoping the summer Sermon Series does for this church. It is my hope that by hearing and experiencing worship that places the call to community, welcome across barriers, and radical hospitality at the center of our time together we may be like Grayson and apply what we have heard when the opportunity arises.

This week I will be preaching on Acts 11:1-18 which chronicles Peter's explanation of the events that led up to his preaching and baptism of Gentiles. For the early church this was radical to be sure and certainly was an action that demanded an explanation. My sermon is entitled "All God's Children: Us & Them."

FPA: Future Pastors of America

Yesterday the Presbytery of Scioto Valley held its June Presbytery Meeting at Dublin Presbyterian Church located in Dublin, OH. On the docket for the June 16th meeting was the examination of individuals who were making their way through the process of becoming a Minister of the Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church USA (aka. an Ordained Pastor). Among them were two individuals who have ties to our own Boulevard Presbyterian Church. The first was Jennifer Eastman Hinkle who served Boulevard for some time as a Ministry Intern. Jennifer was being examined for Ordination (the final step in the process) and the second was current member (and my wife) Kate Hopta, who was being examined for Candidacy (a major move in the process). For more on the process of becoming a PCUSA Pastor please click here.

Kate, Jennifer and many other individuals have undertaken this not-so-easy journey of living into God's call for their lives and their work. Yet it is vital to understand that God just isn't in the business of recruiting Pastors. God calls everyone regardless of their abilities and their gifts. A memorable phrase is this "God does not Call the equipped, God equips the Called." Do you sense that God is calling you into something? What might that be? If so, talk to somebody about it.

Peace,
Brett

A Reflection on Baseball Peanuts

Yesterday the youth group went out to the Columbus Clippers game. The weather was great and it was a lot of fun watching the game, hanging out and for some, sampling the variety of ballgame fare at the new Huntington Park. For those of you who haven't been to a game and have yet partaken in the gastronomical festivities let me say this...you have a lot waiting for you. City BBQ, Bob Evans, Tim Horton, Donatos, and the list goes on and on. They even have some foods that I didn't even know existed like the Elephant Ear "Fries" and something called a Jalapeno Holtz. But for my ballgame watching experience I tend to stick with the basics - a $5 Soda in a Souvenir Cup and a bag of peanuts. To be honest I am a lukewarm peanut eater outside of baseball stadiums. There has been a can in my house since Christmas 2008 and I think since then I have eaten a handful but place me in a ballpark and all of a sudden I become an addict.

At the game yesterday I got my soda and peanuts. Making my way back to my seat I discovered to was now sitting right next to 2 of my favorite people. Stefanie and Everest (age 3+) had joined us for an impromptu couple of innings and as I began to eat my peanuts Everest became very interested in the cracking of the shell and the harvesting of the actual peanut inside. Stefanie or myself usually cracked the shell for him but it was soon discovered that the nutmeat inside the shell was of lesser concern than the fun of smashing the shells underfoot or otherwise. Ballgame peanuts are indeed fun to smash. The crack is satisfying and the resulting mess (that you do not have to clean up) is usually significant. I understand the little guy's desire to turn those peanuts into dust but in the end peanuts are more about what the cracking of the shell gets you than the crack itself.

Life is a little like peanuts in this way. Cracking the shell can be fun but if you went about your whole life just breaking shells then you would have thrown out a lot of what stands as the reward for the work of cracking. There is great richness in life to be harvested yet many of us are so caught up in the work of living that we loose sight of what life is really about. Ultimately, life needs to be more about LIVING than just the drawing of breath. I am convinced that the worst thing that we can do with this gift of life is squander it by only existing and not actually living.

PS: The photo on the right is of Arnie Murphy aka. Peanut Dude who is considered the king of ballgame concessions. Arnie began selling peanuts in Cleveland as a teen and honed his craft throughout the years up until his recent death at the age of 61. Arnie blended humor with his trademark salesmanship becoming known for throwing sacks of peanuts to customers with pinpoint accuracy. But his tosses were not some underhand, floating delivery. At one point Arnie was clocked slinging a bag of peanuts at 42 miles per hour. Click here to hear National Public Radio's coverage of Murphy's death.

It's my Birthday, I can blog if I want to

Yesterday, June 10th was my birthday. Sometime around 3:15pm I turned 31 years old and embarked on my 32nd year walking this earth. Birthday's as of late have been getting closer and then becoming 30 years old. When I was 28 it was "2 more years to the big 3-0" and then turning 29 was like "this time next year you will be thirty." Then when I finally turned 30 the general consensus was that the milestone of being three decades old was to be regarded as something akin to a right of passage into respectable adulthood. Existentially is it was just another year older to be sure, carrying with it no epic developmental milestones but socially, thirty was a big deal. Fast forward from June 10, 2008 to yesterday and I am now 31 and no one is making any sweeping assumptions about the hallmarks of my age. 31, like 26 is just another number,and all I really got was "another day older & deeper in debt." (Thanks Tennessee Ernie Ford)

So today, June 11th will feature my 1st full 24 hours of being 31. With one day down and 364 to go until my 32nd Birthday I am looking forward to what will be in store and where God will take me during this, my 31st year. In much the same way I am looking forward to where God will take us all during this "new" 364 days. How will I grow in my relationships? What challenges will be placed before me? What opportunities will I have to stand up for what I hold to be true? Where will I be taken and where will I visit? As I see them, these are the hallmarks of turning another year older.

Lastly, THANK YOU for all the cards and the birthday love I received yesterday. My BlackBerry (my beloved BB) was having a hard time keeping up with all the well-wishes. I feel very blessed to have such wonderful friends, family, and church-family as well.

Peace, BJS

The Brick Testament

If you have not already explored the Brick Testament please follow the below link to explore this fun way to see the stories of the Bible.

Take me to the Brick Testament

Using Legos to illustrate the stories of the Bible, the Brick Testament is a fun way to take a different (and sometimes very funny) look into the Bible through the lens of one very creative mind.

NOTE: The Brick Testament should be read for fun and it should be noted that it is often irreverent. With that said, enjoy!

Monday @ Boulevard

Did the week begin yesterday? Or is today the first day of the week? Not a terribly important question but for me Monday begins the week & Sunday ends it. From a work perspective everybody is indeed working for the weekend. Sunday is the big day and much of what we do during the week comes to fruition on the Lord's Day. With that in mind let me tell you what is on tap for this week here at Boulevard Presbyterian Church...

• The Teacher Appreciation Lunch is scheduled for Sunday, June 14th. Grace Parks is already working on putting on another one of her trademark meals to honor our teachers and give some others a taste of the upcoming Christian Education year.
• Vacation Bible School is about 5 weeks away and the members of the team are diligently working on everything from decorations to helpers. This year's VBS is called Camp E.D.G.E. Check it out by clicking on Camp E.D.G.E.
  
• The 1925 Youth Group will be heading out to a Columbus Clippers game this Sunday and I am trying to drum up drivers as well as participants for a great day at the new park.
  

Just a couple of the many things happening here this week. Hope to see you Sunday. Remember worship is @ 10am.

A Full House: The Start of Summer Worship

Today Boulevard began its traditional Summer Worship schedule with one 10:00am service in the Sanctuary. While I spied a few people who got here right as the service was ending (that is people who came for the 11:15am service) overall everyone seemed to get the memo that we would begin at 10 AM and from my viewpoint we looked like a full house.

I like that term "full house" for our worshiping time together. The week that I was on vacation Kate and I experienced a full house when the caravan that was my brother and sister-in-law's cross nation move docked here in Grandview for free accommodations. All together there were 6 people staying in our 2 bedroom house and it was packed. With Reese and Laura (my brother and his wife) + Ted, their Dog in the guest/spare bedroom, my Dad in the basement on the futon, and with Amy (Laura's sister) on an Air Mattress (thank you Pam Paxton!) in the living room we were searching for every spare corner to stash someone or something else. With Kate and I making Occupants 5&6 we came to the realization that while this was by far the busiest this house has been since we moved in, it was exactly the reason why we have spare rooms and futons. Kate and I wanted to live in a house that could welcome family and friends when the opportunity presented itself. It is the reason we have more blankets, sheets, and pillows than any two people could ever use. It is the reason why we have a bed that sits in a room where no one sleeps and it is the reason that we have more towels than a Holiday Inn. We purposefully welcomed and prepared for the day that everyone would be under one roof. In some respects the welcoming of loved ones was what this house was designed for.

As a member of the staff I am excited to say that Boulevard is looking forward to the full house this summer. As we gather together for a single 10am service we will fill up the sanctuary physically but also spiritually. The place where we come to worship God and breath deep God's presence is there for the community to fill up not just in numbers but in song, prayer and worship. This is the true "Full House" to be found at Boulevard Presbyterian Church.

I hope to see you there for Sunday's worship. Join us at 10:00am!

Peace,
Brett

Summer Camping @ Kirkmont Center

Last Summer I wrote a short article in the Newsletter about the value of children attending camp over the summer. My point was that profound things can happen at camp, things that will help form and shape children (and the parents of those children) for years to come. I, myself, am a product of camping. Having spent time as both camper and counselor I can say without hesitation that the time I spent at camp during High School helped solidify my acceptance of God's Call for me into ministry. But enough about me...

This summer the Kirkmont Center, located in Zanesfield, OH will be offering lots of incredible opportunities for your children to experience the best camping has to offer. Breaking the camping opportunities down by age, Kirkmont offers camping for children ages Kindergarten (with an Adult) to Senior in High School and over a wide range of themes like Arts Camp (August 2-7), Sports Camp (July 26-31), Science & Discovery Camp (July 5-10), and many more. Adding to the appeal of camping with Kirkmont during this painful economy, prices for camping experiences have been discounted to members of Boulevard Presbyterian Church and other Presbyterian churches in this area. All you need to do to take advantage of these savings in have myself or James sign your registration form where indicated.

If you would like to learn more about Kirkmont Center and the great things that are happening there this summer you should...

1. Check out their website www.kirkmontcenter.com
2. Pick up a registration & information packet located on the glass cabinet outside the Boulevard Office
3. Talk to Kate Hopta, a member of Boulevard (and my lovely wife) who happens to be the Program Director for the Kirkmont Center for the 2009 Summer Camping Season

I think that it is going to be a great summer. I hope that you will consider sending your children/grandchildren to be part of what is happening at Kirkmont or pass this information on to a neighbor or friend.

Happy Camping,
Brett

Back from Road Tripping

My vacation has officially ended and I am back in the office starting today. I had a great time hanging out with my family and making the long road trip from Marlton, NJ to Altus, OK. This being a road trip it was a little funny that I did not drive a single mile. Rather I hung out in various cars as we made the 1500 miles trek that you can check out with the link right above.

Forgive me for now keeping my promise of updates from the road. I decided to take a little of my own advice concerning Sabbath and tried my best not to spend too much time in front of the laptop when my family was around.

By the way, the photo is one I took from the road in Oklahoma.

So now it is back to work...

Peace, Brett