Sunday Sermon - From Here to You

Busted Stuff

It appears as though I have broken, or at least really jammed by left pinky finger. I will spare you the details and tell you that no, it didn't happen while playing kickball.

Sufficed to say, this is a rather detrimental injury to my typed correspondence & blogging. I am trying to answer emails with my BlackBerry (speaking of my BlackBerry, that is where the crummy photo came from) so I can type with my thumbs, and avoiding Facebook Chat for fear of lagging behind my fully-functional friends.

Therefore, I am calling for a blogging hiatus. I will post last Sunday's sermon at some point but for at least a couple of days I am on the DL.

October Newsletter Article

Late last night while Kate & I watched TV, we found a program entitled “Freaky Eaters”, a show about people who have severely abnormal eating habits like a man who only eats cheeseburgers, or a woman who eats candy three meals a day. Almost always the diagnosis saw their habits as evidence of addictive behavior, including last night’s individual who drinks 30 cans of regular cola (aka. not sugar free or diet) a day, and has so for many years. If you do the math, the totals are staggering: 30 cans a day times 365 days a year gives you a whopping 10950 cans of cola a year which equates to roughly 25 pounds of sugar every couple of days. Was this individual 500 pounds? No. Was she diabetic? No. Was she someone who sat around all day? No, she is a medical professional! She works in a hospital as a nurses aide.

Evidence like our soda-swilling friend and experiences that we all share go to show that knowing something is bad or good for you and actually applying that belief to your life are very different things. As a church & as people of faith we fall into this trap too. We often know precisely how it is to get the things we want - involvement into the community, mission projects, fellowship, an active prayer life, opportunities to serve - and recognize that without these things we might move in unhealthy directions but something often prevents us from making it happen. Something that we can not always name immediately.

I would like to suggest that we take the month of October and be intentional about finding the things that we can do both personally and together as a church family that continue to propel us in a healthy direction, and for some, provide a new path towards a greater sense of church and self. It might be a month of hard questions and difficult answers, but like the transformation the leaves undergo during the start of fall that ultimately leads towards a rebirth in the spring, what we do now carves out a place for the rebirth and renewal God can bring in the days to come.

Total Depravity beats Beloved St. Luke's, Makes Playoffs

Despite a rocky start, Total Depravity managed to secure their 3rd win of the season in a 9-6 defeat of upstart Beloved St. Luke's. Victory over St. Luke's not only cemented Total Depravity's first winning season but also forced a 3-way tie for 3rd overall in the Grandview Parks and Recreation Kickball League, a tie that resulted in Total Depravity's #3 seed in the four team 2010 Kickball Playoffs.

Making the playoffs for the first time in team history was all the motivation Total Depravity needed to rebound after 2 rough innings that featured St. Luke's jumping out to a 4 run lead before the first Total Depravity run crossed the plate. Forcing the defense to make outs in high-pressure situations, St. Luke's kicked through the heart of the order before the first out was recorded in the top of the 1st inning yet when things settled down Total Depravity began to put together a fine defensive outing with latter innings featuring no St. Luke's base-runners. Highlighting the defensive effort was Mary Clifton's 1 out "triple-play". Catching the shallow pop-up at 2nd base, Mary doubled up the runner at second, and for the "extra" out of the Triple Play tagged the runner on 1st who failed to tag up. Despite not officially counting as a Triple Play Mary Clifton becomes the first player in Total Depravity history to achieve such a feat.

While defense played a large part in the 9-6 victory, smart base-running and strong individual efforts pushed Total Depravity into the win. Jon Stephens, Total Depravity's all-time leader in Home Runs, added another round-tripper to his season total of 3, as his blast scored Mary Clifton around from 1st and put Total Depravity's first 2 runs on the board. Hustle and heads-up play on the part of Total Depravity, the kickball team of Boulevard Presbyterian Church, turned the tables on St. Luke's, forcing them to make outs in high-pressure situations as runners advanced on every opportunity.

As Total Depravity looks ahead to their September 19th playoff contest against #2 Bird is the Word it is worth noting the playoff structure. Like a classic bracket tournament, teams in the Grandview playoffs will play a single-elimination qualifier with victory insuring a place in the championship game to be held at 7pm on that same day. Early favorites have to be reigning champs #1 overall The Sparkly $2 Bills who remained undefeated for the 2nd year in a row as the beat Total Depravity's future opponent Bird is the Word 4-0.

Fans of Total Depravity may remember 2009 season's opening game against the blue-clad Bird is the Word. Like most of the season, Total Depravity was on the ropes in the early innings, allowing 6 runs before they settled down and scored a few of their own. This loss was "officially" avenged this year as Total Depravity was scheduled to play The Bird is the Word in the first game of the season but when The Bird's were not able to field enough players to make it an official contest Total Depravity took how the forfeit victory.

Root Total Depravity on as they take the field in the first playoff appearance in team history on Sunday, September 19th at 5:00 PM at C. Ray Buck Sports Park located off Gooddale Blvd.

The Official End of the Summer

Just a short note to say that today is officially the end of the summer for us here at Boulevard. Regular Season begins on Sunday, September 12th as we get back to our "regular" life - 2 worship services, educational programs, etc. As I take the last 15 minutes I am going to spend in the office today to write this, I thought that I would conclude the summer with a highlights blog post.

So, without further ado...

The 2010 Summer in Review: Highlight Edition

• Our kickball team, Total Depravity, wasn't the worst team in the league this year. At least there is that
• I developed a taste for coming into work early, but still haven't figured out how to get out of here before 4pm.
• Thanks to very industrious members, we have some newly renovated spaces here at Boulevard. Sadly, all the junk that I was storing in those spaces is now in my office. You win some, you lose some
• I was "defriended" by a friend because of something that I said on Facebook regarding Prop 8 in California.
• I fulfilled something of a workplace fantasy, and started wearing shorts to work fairly regularly.
• Went on vacation to rural Oklahoma - yes, you heard that right.

Well, there were more highlights to be sure...they might have just been things that I remember about the summer that was, but that is as close to a highlight as I am going to get.

I hope that you enjoy your weekend, and I will write again during the Regular Season.

Is Jesus for Hire?

My feathers have been ruffled, and continue to be so every time I hear of the church in Ganesville, Florida that is planning on burning copies of the Koran on 9/11. To be honest, it makes me furious. Furious that such an event will could even be conceived, but furious also to think that when described over NPR or various other news outlets, this lunacy is couched in "Christian Minister Plans to..." or "Christian Church will..." It turns my stomach because "Christian" is the word that they use for me, my congregation, and the beloved community of churches that seek to follow Christ. We are all called "Christians."

Christians are a diverse lot. For every Koran Burning congregation, or one that will bring its guns to church on the invitation of their Pastor, there are churches that march in gay-pride parades as a sign of solidarity, or are instrumental in interfaith dialog. For every every church that protests funerals, or advocates racism, there are other churches that provide free HIV/AIDS testing, or congregations that provide shelter for teenage mothers. We are diverse, and thankfully so yet in the end there is, or should be, the one foundational element found at the so-called heart of the "Christian" church: Jesus Christ. Christ is the uniting factor, and Presbyterians can work with Baptists, Episcopalians, Evangelicals, and the like because, at the end of the day, we are all rooted in Christ. At least that is what we say. Sometimes it is hard to tell.

Christ comes across looking fairly schizophrenic in the religious landscape of America. In Stephen Prothero's wonderful book American Jesus, Prothero showcases the variety of ways Jesus has served as the spokesperson for a variety of causes; lending his voice and integrity to issues both far and wide. Slavery and Abolitionists both used Jesus to back their cause. In modern times, both human rights groups and those who fight to limit rights to homosexuals and their relationships use Jesus to stump. One might conclude that Jesus has become a contractor - like that of Blackwater - and is fighting for whoever pays. For modern American and international congregations, churches, movements and causes, it is time to pause and ask: is Jesus for hire?

Jesus is getting dangerously close to becoming a Mall Santa - looking the part, live in the flesh. He says the right things at the right time, and even has answers for doubters, yet if there is a "real Santa" out there somewhere this guy isn't it because the other mall has one too. Hundreds of Santas dot the landscape, each with a red suit and convincing jiggle. Each hired to lend their "ho ho ho" to the cause until the time comes when New Year's and Valentine's Day replaces the candy canes and gingerbread houses, and Santa's Village goes dark. Jesus, like Santa, is a seasonal employee: there when we need him, off the payroll when we don't.

In the end, Jesus is all to often co-opted into unfamiliar territory. The man who proclaims loving our neighbors as we love ourselves, and treating such neighbors as if they were Christ himself, seems to be advocating the opposite through the pulpits of many congregations. The man who spoke about money more than just about anything else (including all the really hot-button stuff) is often full of good news on how to get rich, and how God wants you to fly 1st class. What is there to do? The answer comes, I believe, when we move from the labels to the person. A personal, engaged faith can transcend labels of "liberal", "conservative", and yes, even "Christian" and seek to follow Jesus along the road as an individual walking in the midst of a community. Hope comes in getting to know Jesus "on the road" and not from a fixed position behind dogmatic bunkers. If we have any hope of combating the Mall Santa approach to Jesus the Spokesperson, we must become an engaged faith community - one where we know Jesus not through slogans or soundbites but through encounters with the Risen Savior.