Sure Catch Trout Pond

Today marks the 3rd time this week that somebody informed me that they don't know what to pray for. Do I pray for healing? Do I pray for peace? Do I pray for God's will to be done? Do I not pray at all? The inability to connect what it is you want with how you ask for it is maddening and no place is this more a reality then in prayer. Unlike the child who wants a Puppy and asks God for a Puppy, we often fail to ask God for what we really want/need in prayer in a move to hedge our bets if it does not pan out. Fearful to pray to a God whose will seemingly has other plans than our own we relegate our prayer life to the Sure Catch Trout Pond rather than contend with the Marlin. Let me explain.

Back home in California there is a sorry excuse of a lake that sits along the Southbound lanes of Hwy 101. Never having been there but reading the signs as I get stuck in the inevitable jam that comes with reducing 4 lanes of speeding California traffic into 2 I know this "lake" to be well stocked. Yet despite the abundance of fish found in this body of water, far more than would have been found in the "wild", you run a risk of not catching anything. Fishing is a game and like most Fishermen and women will tell you, you often lose. So the owners got to thinking...what would happen if we took out the variable, the chance of failure and made a way for every line to bring up a catch. Enter the Sure Catch Trout Pond, a very large and deep above ground pool of sorts stocked to the brim with hungry, underfed Trout just looking for a bite. Story goes that even the youngest angler can bring up their limit and pay for the privilege of doing so. With desperate, hungry fish everybody is a winner.

The point is this: it is impossible to fail when your bar is so low. It is impossible to feel as though your prayers have not been answered (what do we mean by that? topic for another blog post) when we pray on the fringes of our hearts desires rather than tackling head on the thing that we most want. Take for example the Lord's Prayer, the model prayer Jesus gave the church. If you recite it to yourself right now you might encounter some serious Marlins. "Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." "Forgive us our debts", "Lead us not into temptation", these are not Sure Catch prayers, these are some pretty aggressive topics to bring to God and this is our model.

I want to encourage you to think first about God when you pray and not about what to pray for. Ask yourself this: what kind of God am I praying to? Is it a God who dodges and ducks the difficult, the painful, the complex? It is a God that takes the path of least resistance? Or do you pray to a God who welcomes lament, who has the prerequisite amount of depth to invite bold prayers in difficult times? The God you pray to may have more to say about what you pray about then you might think.

I will close with advice. If prayer is difficult for you right now I would encourage you to continue to reserve that time usually spent in prayer and use it to discover God. Find a parable, a prophet, or something of Paul's and as you read ask yourself what kind of God are they talking about? My hope is that by getting to know God better we can find direction in our prayers.

Sermon: Blindness - Mark 10:46-52

It seems to me that when I get around to writing a sermon I am usually stuck with one of two things: an idea that I cannot shake or a question that I cannot answer. For our scripture for today it is the latter. I have listened, I have read, I have sat silently, I have researched but I am stuck with a question I cannot readily answer: Why did the crowd try to keep the Blind man silent and away from Jesus?

Descriptions of crowds following Jesus around are a normal part of the Gospel. They force Christ to preach from a Boat, they produce opportunities for healing, they attract spies and Pharisees but also miracles, yet up until this point we have never encountered a crowd that bared folks from joining. And this is what doesn’t make sense to me. Why did the crowd, a collected mass of individuals, decide at one point that their mishmash of women, children, labors, and everyday folks would became exclusive and prohibit a man who is obviously looking for a miracle?

When I think about the throng of people following around Jesus I get the image of the crowd that follows around Golfer Tiger Woods as he moves from fairway to green. Never having been to the Memorial Tournament, but watching some Golf on TV, I have a very clear image of what this looks like. Tiger tees off before a silent but jammed packed crowd of fans. They are 5-6 people deep all clamoring for a line of sight and then jockeying for position as Tiger makes his way down to his 2nd shot. The more aggressive of the bunch walks fast (if not jogs) to the second shot claiming the best, most perfect vantage point to see the magic that is Tiger’s Golf game, leaving the seconds for those who were either too civil or too slow not to claw their way into perfect position. Why are those folks there? Why don’t they do the same thing for some guy struggling to make the cut? Simple: because it is Tiger Woods, perhaps the greatest golfer of all-time. They want to see something special. They want to see Tiger drive a green on a Par 4. They want to see Tiger put for Eagle. They want to see what he will do next. The crowd follows Tiger around for the show. I am not sure the crowd that followed Jesus around was all that different.

They in their sandals and tunics are not that different from the polos and slacks that stand in the presence of Golf greatness. The crowd that we now hear of leaving Jericho heading down the road to Jerusalem was there to breathe in the greatness, perhaps even the celebrity of Jesus Christ. They have heard his dynamic teaching, they have encountered his dealings with the Pharisees, and by the 10th chapter of Mark – which would have been right around the last few months or so of Christ’s life – word of Christ’s healing would have traveled to Jericho and yet instead of having a ringside seat to Jesus himself performing a miracle in their very presence, despite having the ability to claim the very best seat for the most amazing thing they would have ever seen they instead tell the blind Bartimaeus to shut up. If it were me… I might have started yelling “OVER HERE!” but instead they tell the blind man sitting along the road to keep quiet, Jesus isn’t for you. It is at this point that it is helpful that we remember that this story is about blindness.

We should not underestimate Mark as a storyteller. He is at work painting a story for us about sight. As Jesus is restoring sight to the blind the disciples are having a hard time seeing anything. Blinded by their expectations, their intuition causing them to stumble over the reality that Christ is not here to lead a nation or command an army, the Disciples are having a real difficult time making out even the biggest letter atop of the Eye Chart that is Christ’s Mission. They have had the best seat in the house, private lessons with the master and yet at the end of the day they still have to feel their way through. I don’t want to rag on the disciples, Lord knows that I am as blind as they come but I would like to think that if I had the opportunity that they had; if I could have traveled around with Jesus, seen him do the things and say the things that he did, I would have seen correctly, I would have not been blind. But we all know that is a lie.

We all wrestle with seeing Jesus. We can’t quite make out the face of the Son of David who came to redeem all of life. We have a hard time focusing in on the Teacher who tells us to trust above all else. The reality is that despite the witness of scripture, the tradition of the church, the community of those around us we still have a real hard time seeing Jesus – truly seeing Jesus for who he is. It is here that I like the image of the difference between following Jesus and being a Follower of Jesus.

These days some of the hipper Christian communities reject the term Christian. It has too much baggage they say, preferring instead to call themselves Followers of Jesus. Rejecting much of the tradition of mainstream religion they want to see themselves as folks who follow the teachings of Jesus, believe in the Gospel and seek to live in community with fellow Christians with the relationship they have in Christ as the bond that brings them all together. Not a bad idea I think but certainly different from the crowd of folks who are following Jesus. Over hill and over dale, along the dusty trail they follow Jesus around seeking to occupy the same space, lean into the celebrity of a man who speaks of forgiving sins, who heals people, and seemingly rewrites the rules as he goes. Jesus as a historical figure would have been crowd-worthy. Following Jesus around as he spoke of grace and peace, love and forgiveness, community and redemption, could have been a formative spiritual experience but if you were there for the celebrity, the “what will he do next”, if you were there for the show then your proximity to Christ would far outweigh anything that he could have ever said. It reminds me of an old friend of mine who was a fiend when it came to working out; a real Gym Rat. He was especially proud of his arms and one day while down in Southern California he walked into a gym right at the precise time as Arnold Schwarzenegger, who at the time was running for Governor of the Great State of California. Schwarzenegger in his prime was known for the most amazing arms in modern bodybuilding, and sure enough sitting amongst a quickly filling gym was my friend sitting literally at the feet of the Master. To hear him tell it, Arnold spent about 35 minutes talking about Bodybuilding and answering questions before singing to the choir asking about voting in the upcoming gubernatorial election. You talk to my friend about this experience and he couldn’t tell you a single thing Arnold said about bodybuilding, the decision to run for Governor, anything about how to obtain the most amazing arms in Modern Bodybuilding. All he has to say is “I was sitting right next to The Terminator.”

Some folks are followers of Jesus and some folks are following Jesus and perhaps the way to go from celebrity to savior is for our eyes to be open to the full measure of a Savior who is the Word Made Flesh but in the end of the day I am still not too sure why it is that he crowd said No to blind Bartimaeus. Maybe it isn’t a question to be answered but rather a lesson to learn or an example for the church and us. Maybe it is a wake up call reminding us that Christ is the Word Made Flesh and not a Poster Child. Maybe it is a call to listen, a strong suit for blind Bartimaeus but not so much for us, and not get caught up in the glitz and glamor of a mainstream, accepted faith. Maybe it is meant to remind us that we shouldn’t be the ones setting the terms on who gets to have an experience of the Risen Savior. Perhaps it is a call to start paying attention to the cries for healing coming from outside the group. Maybe it is all three.

Anyway we slice it at the end of the day in Christ the Blind see, the Hungry are fed, the Thirsty drink deep from a Living Water, and perhaps what we need more than anything else is to either get on board or get out of the way.

Amen.

New & Exciting Delevopments @ Boulevard

So much is happening around here these days that I thought that I would share it with you as a way to keep you in the loop about the stuff that has me excited.

Sunday School
Last week Wiley Elliott informed me that he had completed and "installed" our brand new Puppet stage for our Rotation Sunday School. The stage is something that I have been dreaming about for about a year and thankfully Wiley stepped up and knocked it out taking all the initiative on his own. Roughly 6 feet long, 6 feet high and 3-4 feet wide, this PVC Pipe stage is light but sturdy and once we cover it in fabric we can begin adding puppets to our Rotation Sunday School program.

Youth Ministry
Amy Smith and Ginny Fisher have been working hard on the restoration/redesign of our Youth Room. So far this dynamic duo have begun the process of putting down a coat of primer, identified the items that are to be hauled away, and began the search for replacement items. It is great to have members who take the ball and run with it. It is my bet that once all the clutter and couches are out of that room it will be a great place to hang out.

Chapel
After a long season of fund raising and work Boulevard will be holding its first service in the newly redesigned and renovated Grinsted Chapel. I am honored to be the 1st one to preach and celebrate the Lord's Supper in the Chapel that is not 100% totally finished but fully operational. Every time I pop my head in the Chapel I am struck that the memory of its former self gets a little fainter and fainter and the future of the place gets brighter and brighter. I hope that you will join us for worship on Sunday as we begin a new chapter in the worshiping life of the congregation.

The All-Time 9

My love of Baseball is pretty well documented and so it should come as no surprise that with the American and National League's Championship Series almost complete my thoughts have turned to the World Series. While I am personally pulling for the Philadelphia Phillies to repeat as World Champions the caliber of play by all teams has made for some of the most thrilling baseball this season despite the fact that my own team the Detroit Tigers choked.

The Dodgers, Yankees, Phillies, and perhaps less so the Angels are some of the most established teams in the history of Baseball and carry with them a great roster of Hall of Fame players. As someone who likes to think about the history of the game I am excited about a poll that Major Leauge Baseball is offering where fans like you and me can vote for the All-Time 9, the single greatest player at his position in the history of the franchise. Teams with short histories like the Colorado Rockies have their 9 filled with names like Vinnie Castilla, who is the top vote getter with over 90% voting for him as the Rockies All-Time greatest Third Baseman but compared to teams like Baltimore who had Brooks Robinson or Kansas City with George Brett it is easy to see that the Rockies are lacking the depth to make this interesting.

Scanning some of the more historic teams we see names like Ty Cobb & Babe Ruth (who hated each other), Micky Mantle & Jackie Robinson, and other "who's who" of Baseball. I personally have had a great time both strolling down memory lane and honoring some of the greats with my vote. To think of the history that is contained in this pursuit reminds me of a term that we use in our faith to talk about this very same thing: A Great Cloud of Witnesses.

A Great Cloud of Witnesses, is an expression that gets at the central theme that we are united by those brothers and sisters who have gone before and on who's shoulders we now stand. Included in their number are the Ty Cobbs and Babe Ruths of this church and our faith. We are able to lean into their example, learn from their mistakes and successes, and ultimately provide that same service for the generation to come. Soon enough folks will be standing on our shoulders, talking about the people here and now like we do about the heroes of our churches and faith.

As for Baseball, we will have to wait to see if Red Hot players of today like Phillies standouts Ryan Howard and Chase Utley will have the staying power and production to earn them a spot in Cooperstown. Only time will tell. Yet for the Cloud of Witnesses, we are all a part of the witness of the Church in this and every age. The Cloud of Witnesses is our Cooperstown, our All-Time 9

The time has arrived: Recruiting for Advent Devotional Authors

With the move from summer to fall comes with it the return to school, the changing of the leaves and my job of finding authors for our Advent Devotional. Boulevard Presbyterian Church has written its own Advent Devotional for 3 years now and each year we try to find new authors to join the others who make penning a devotion part of their Advent celebration. While each and every year there are those who doubt themselves, criticize unfairly their writing abilities or spiritual depth, or get scared away at the thought of the entire congregation reading their stuff, I am always thrilled when someone undertakes this task for the 1st time.

After doing this for a couple of years I am able to say with some certainty what it takes to write a successful Advent Devotion. First and foremost it takes someone who is willing. Really if you have someone who, confident or doubting in their abilities, wants to or even better feels called to write a devotional then all the other things that might make turn good devotionals into great ones fade into the distance. Being called to do something always makes the fruit taste sweeter than if you were convinced. Secondly, great devotionals are made up of personal reflection and insight over dry attempts at theological astuteness or being overtly spiritual. I strongly believe that what makes this devotional unique is that it comes from the people that are sitting in the pews each and every Sunday morning and not from some Ph.d sitting in a dusty office (NOTE: we do have a couple Ph.d's write for us in the past. They are awesome and I am not sure if their offices are dusty). We pride ourselves on the fact that this is something produced and authored by folks here at church warts and all.

I remember my first year in recruiting folks to write, a member suggested that I should get a part-time job selling used cars for the smooth talking I was dishing out in pursuit of my goal of 22 authors. In thinking back on that as I now begin the process of putting this all together and I can honestly say that I believe no matter your abilities and belief in yourself you can write a devotional. It only takes two things: Being willing and being a real person.

Stay tuned for more updates on the progress of the 2009 Advent Devotional. Our theme for this year is The Days are Surely Coming which helps us remember that Advent means Waiting.

Bringing Work Home

I am a list maker. I make shopping lists so that I do not forget anything at Giant Eagle. I make packing lists so the socks do not get left in Columbus. I make to-do lists at home and work when I need to accomplish a number of things in a finite time frame. I guess it is something of an anxious habit but I like to be prepared to make the most out of a situation. I will have to say that while this is not a 100%, fool-proof plan it does usually produce results. Add a cup of Coffee (jet fuel compared to my caffeine intake of choice Diet Coke) and we are talking multi-tasking. But I am starting to experience a problem with my work habit. It is starting to creep into my day-off.

Today I started to write the following Tweet: "To-Do: Read, Harry Potter movie w/ Kate, Finish Basement clean up,..." That is far as I got before I noticed that I was trying to turn the things that I wanted to do at home with my free time into work that needed to be stressed about and accomplished. I was turning something I enjoy - going to a movie - into a task to be completed and checked off. Not cool.

I know this blog isn't the venue for group therapy but what I can say is that I am surprised by how quickly I can revert to "working" my hobbies. Finish this book to start a new one & reading becomes a chore. Watch the stuff my TiVo recorded & delete it before new stuff needs to be recorded. I like reading. I like watching TV off TiVo but when it turns into a task, something to accomplish I start to feel like I am working the loves of my life for what amounts to no good reason.

I know that I am not alone in this. We all need to find ways to leave work for work and play for play. I hope that this weekend you will be able to cut work off and enjoy the opportunity to be unproductive and enjoy the things that you choose to do. I hope that you can do this much with worship this Sunday. Church attendance can often fall into this "I choose = I have to" realm and when we start feeling as though we are working church then we lose out on one of the greatest gifts God has given us: a Sabbath.

Take a Sabbath this Sabbath. Enjoy the game, forget the lawn, and when you get to church on Sunday stick around and have a cup of coffee. Most people don't regret it.

A Prayer of Healing

Today in worship we learned of another beloved member of the Boulevard family who has been hospitalized. I ask that you join with me in praying for those who are facing a crisis of health.

Mighty and merciful God,
you sent Jesus Christ to heal broken lives.
We praise you that today
you send healing in doctors and nurses,
and bless us with technology in medicine.
We claim you promises of wholeness
as we pray for those who are ill and those who are hospitalized,
who long for your healing touch.
Make the weak strong,
the sick healthy,
the broken whole,
and confirm those who serve them
as agents of your love.
Than all shall be renewed in vigor
to point to the risen Christ,
who conquered death
that we might live eternally. AMEN

Reading a new book

I thought that I would introduce you to a new book I am reading. It is called Rejuvenile: Kickball, Cartoons, Cupcakes, and the Reinvention of the American Grown-Up by Christopher Noxon.

Noxon, a contributor to NPR, weaves together first hand accounts and observations with statistical data to show how adults find ways to hold on to their youth and in some cases cultivate their inner "Peter Pan."

I invite you to take a look and listen to NPR's coverage of Rejuvenile by clicking HERE.

So as the Kickball team party takes place tomorrow and I am beset on all sides by fellow rejuneniles I hope that you can find sometime this weekend and let your inner child come out and play.

Happy reading!