The emptiness of Easter

   Thousands of eggs will be found on Sunday morning by little hands. They will fill up baskets and bags with eggs containing enough treats and candy to make any dentist weep. The eggs were filled by the generous efforts of dozens of volunteers who took the time to make sure that kids would have something to delight in - what a blessing it is to think about the people who make things happen in service to the love of God!
   I don't blame a child for wanting every egg to contain something special inside. But, Easter is more about emptiness than anything else. Frederick Buechner said this,

"The symbol of Easter is the empty tomb. You can't depict or domesticate emptiness. 

You can't make it into pageants and string it with lights."

Think about the abundance of Christmas images and items that point back to that first Nativity: a baby in swaddling clothes, a kneeling mother, mangers, stables, angelic choruses, admiring shepherds, and even adoring animals. Now, think about how most of the images of Easter are about things that have nothing to do with the actual first Easter morning: eggs, bunnies, chicks, etc. Isn't it because it is very hard to sell emptiness?
   Our story begins with the empty tomb. The best news the world has ever heard is not something that can be monetized. The hinge of history turns on something that wasn't there (a body). The foundation of our hope is emptiness! No wonder the first disciples stumbled out of the garden that morning. No wonder they ended up temporarily returning to their previous jobs before the week was out. We want every present to contain something we can cling to, something we can show others. Instead, the emptiness of Easter is too grand and magnificent to be kept inside an egg, a tomb, or even a painting over the mantle.
   God is inviting me - and you - to look into the empty tomb and find power over death, love that conquers fear, and something greater than anything we've put our hands on. Grace and peace, Scott

You Know Me

“Lord, you have examined me.
    You know me.
You know when I sit down and when I stand up.
    Even from far away, you comprehend my plans.
You study my traveling and resting.
    You are thoroughly familiar with all my ways.”
Psalm 139:1-3

   I was stopped going through security two weeks ago, about an hour before time for the flight back to Atlanta was supposed to depart from Chicago. I had removed my belt, slipped off my shoes, and placed my wallet, keys and phone into a basket that was being scanned. Nevertheless, the full body scanner showed something that I had failed to remove! It was a single mint in my left front pocket that showed up as a flashing yellow square on the screen.  The airport security officer looked me dead in the eye and said, “It doesn’t miss anything.” He was right and I snapped this photo as evidence!
   We sometimes think of God as this Divine Scanner in the Sky, waiting to catch us holding onto or doing something wrong or dangerous. Instead, God's power is intended to open us up to being loved. Consider that Psalm 139 ends with, "Look to see if there is any idolatrous way in me, then lead me on the eternal path!" When we go to God in confession and prayer, it is about more than coming clean and admitting we're caught. It is about removing the layers of weight and sin that cover up the best of who we are. This is the essence of Genesis 3 and Hebrews 12. Let us not hide or be weighed down.
   As we draw closer to Easter, may the routine of daily readings from the Praying for 5 booklet, your attendance in worship, and the powerful grace of God all together prepare us for what God is revealing to us. Grace and peace, Scott

BANG...that made me jump!

   It was already in the third inning of the baseball game when it happened the first time...BANG! The report of the gun bounced across the stands where we were sitting and caught most of the crowd by surprise. The sound came from a starting pistol and marked the start of one of the first races being run at the track meet on the other side of the high school campus. The sound-waves had already traveled 300 yards by the time they made all of us jump. It was not the last time. The starting pistol went off another dozen times before the game we were watching was over, and each time caught folks off guard.
   Most of us are used to being caught off guard from time to time. How high did you jump the last time the sonic boom of an F-15 came just as you stepped outside on an overcast day?
   Jesus was doing his best to prepare the disciples for what was to come in the days leading up to Holy Week. In Mark's Gospel he literally starts in the middle, the eighth chapter of Mark's sixteen chapter book, with the first of three predictions or words of warning about what will happen to him. They don't understand. I can imagine that in the closing weeks, as they journeyed to Jerusalem for the last Passover they would attend together, they had little idea of what was coming.
   Who among us like to be caught of guard? No one. We would rather know now, what lies ahead, that be surprised tomorrow. But, life rarely unfolds like that. The story of Easter is one of surprise, sadness, sorrow, and then something else.
   Like the starter's gun the other day, the Book of Hebrews likens the journey of faith to that of a race, pleading that we would continue to run and not give up (Hebrews 12). As we draw closer, keep praying for your friends and yourself: pray that we would all be caught off guard, this Easter, by the sheer joy of God's love for us. Grace and peace, Scott

Lent is Here

   We begin the Season of Lent this week on a day known as Ash Wednesday, so significant that one city prepares all year long for the party* that wraps up the night before.
   What is Lent? Lent is a forty day period, excluding Sundays, during which disciples of Jesus Christ prepare themselves spiritually for the remembrance of Christ's suffering, death and resurrection.  The name is derived from the Old English, lengten, a reference to the lengthening of the days in the spring.
   Beginning in the second century, Christians would undergo a brief period of fasting and prayer in preparation for Good Friday and Easter. By the fourth century the period had been extended to forty days to coincide with the forty days that Jesus fasted and prayed in the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry. The number forty also corresponds to the forty years God's people were wandering in the wilderness after the Exodus.
   It was common to fast from meat and dairy products during Lent, and many Christian converts made their first professions of faith in Jesus as Lord. It was also a time of repentance for those who had abandoned the faith. The season is a time for more intense and intentional spiritual growth during which we remember the message, the life, the suffering and death of Christ.
   Our annual Ash Wednesday Service begins at 6:30 pm in the Sanctuary, where we are marked with ashes as a sign of our desire to repent of our sin and follow Jesus, and offered the chance to write out our prayers of confession and then destroy them following the service. I invite you to attend this special service.  It will be brief, but the experience will stay with us. It will be a time spent well in preparation for Easter.
   In the tradition of the ancient church, we're inviting you to do three things this Lent:
1.  Be in worship every weekend you are in town.
2.  Give up something as a fast and expression of your faith and identification with Jesus' suffering.
3.  Join the whole church in reading through the devotional book, Praying for 5, available at the church this Sunday. We can make Easter the best ever for folks who need a church home!
   Join us as we start this journey on Wednesday. Grace and Peace, Scott

* New Orleans is the city, and Mardi Gras is the party.

Easter or any Story; You Cannot Include Everything

   What a great weekend of worship, as we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I would be remiss to attempt to call out every person who had a hand in making the morning, literally from before the sun rose in the sky, so wonderful. I can say that the music was great in every service including the brass quartet who tooted their horns, the cooks and bakers who brought for the early pilgrims put delicious on display, the volunteers who teach and greet every Sunday are so faithful, and the faces who filled pews and rows were beautiful.
   I am pretty sure I heard one person walk away proclaiming that this weekend's Easter miracle surely must have been that the preacher let us out early in all three services! I am often asked, can you tell any story quickly? But, jokes aside, how do you tell the Easter story briefly?
   Let me ask it another way; how long does it take to tell your own story? Could you tell it in ten minutes? If it were made into a movie, how long would it take? I've shared before that I've served for the past eight years on the Board of Ordained Ministry for the South Georgia Conference. Persons seeking to be ordained as UMC pastors come before the group twice over the course of a number of years. I went before them in 2003 and 2006. Candidates record a sermon, submit dozens of pages of answers to wide-ranging questions of theology, and go through a variety of background checks and testing, totaling around 80-100 pages of paperwork. Would you believ
e one of the most challenging items for candidates to complete is the five-page autobiographical statement? People struggle with what to include and what to leave out. Some would ask, how am I supposed to capture everything in five pages? Of course, the answer is that you cannot include everything; you have to choose. Whether it is a five-page limit, or simply the attention span of your audience, people soon realize that a good story is crafted and shaped.
   I am excited to consider how Jesus explained the story of Easter in the days after the tomb was found empty. The sermon series is titled History 24:27, taking its cue from Luke 24:27 where it says Jesus shared with two disciples heading out of Jerusalem to Emmaus. We can also learn something every week about our own stories.
   Grace and peace, Scott
 

Christmas and Easter

But when the fulfillment of the time came, God sent his Son, born through a woman, and born under the Law. 

- Galatians 4:4

   The early church did not believe that the circumstances of Jesus' entrance into the world were by chance, or some random event. Paul captures this perfectly when he writes that God was operating in the fullness of time.
   I think one of the greatest contributions that the church has offered to the world - right alongside covered-dish suppers, Easter egg hunts, and the perfection of a baby dressed in white being baptized as God and all the congregation looks on - are the seasons of Advent and Lent. They each offer a period of time in which to prepare for the great thing to come. Advent reminds us that we are in need of a savior: the child born at Christmas. Lent reminds us of our mortality, our sin, our utter helplessness: right up to the point that Jesus conquers all of this out of his amazing grace and unconditional love.
   I love Christmas and Easter people, because we worship a Christmas and Easter God. We worship a God whose timing is always perfect - even when we are not. We worship a God whose plans are always magnificent - even we fail to follow through with them all. We worship a God whose forgiveness is unmatched - and for that I am most grateful.
   The morning that we have waited, prayed for, and read toward is arriving. May Easter come with our hearts filled with the hope that Jesus provides. Grace and peace, Scott

Starting New with a Strange Jesus

    In the beginning, woman and man walked in a paradise garden with the Creator (Genesis 2). This was the highest form of communion. It did not last, as their choices, predictors of the same choices we would make every generation after that first one, moved them away from God's best desires for them and out into the fallen state our world has remained in for most of history (Genesis 3 and 4).
   Not too long afterwards, Abraham and Sarah were visited by three men they did not know. They were strangers, though we know now that they came as messengers from heaven (Genesis 17). Later still, a story was kept about their grandson, Jacob, wrestling with a stranger in the night. That stranger would be revealed to be God (Genesis 32).
   These earliest stories seem to suggest that heaven worked, at least on some occasions, through strangers. What if heaven still worked that way? What if heaven's greatest work, culminating in the events of that first Easter weekend, is about our relationship to strangers? Particularly, to one stranger?
    Rowan Williams, formerly the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Anglican church, wrote this in his book Resurrection,

One of the strangest features of the resurrection narratives is precisely this theme of the otherness, the unrecognizability, of the risen Jesus. Three major stories - Luke's Emmaus episode, John's account of Mary Magdalene at the time, and the 'Galilean fantasia' which concludes his gospel - underline the point. Whatever the experiences of the disciples at Easter were, it is hard to deny that this element must've played a part – that for some at least, the encounter with the risen Jesus began as an encounter with a stranger.

   Williams goes on to say that the disciples must relearn Jesus, as if from the beginning. This could not be any more clear than in the way that John closes out his Gospel. Jesus finds the disciples in their fishing boats, as if the previous three years with Jesus had never happened. They must start over, from scratch. 

   I'm greatly touched by this. Very distinct from the nostalgia of some tired Easter theology, we are confronted with how different God is than we've long tried to convince ourselves. Maybe Easter is intended for us to realize that our journeys, every year, start new with Jesus. Further, the book of Hebrews suggests that God's pattern of coming to us as a stranger continues (13:2). When we entertain and offer hospitality to strangers we are possibly offering it to heavenly beings.  

   How is God moving in your life through a stranger or person you didn't immediately recognize as familiar? What happens in your heart when you consider that God acts in ways beyond your understanding or control? 

   Grace and peace, Scott
 

Prayer for Lent and for Us All

   While I was a seminary student at Emory University's Candler School of Theology, the Dean of Worship compiled some of the prayers written by students and faculty that were used in the worship held there every week. This prayer for Lent was written by a classmate, Katye Fox, around the year 2000.

O God of Wounded Body,
You know what it is
          to be wracked with pain and anguish
          for you came and experienced that utter misery for us.
Rub your salve of forgiveness and healing love into
          the gashes of our hearts,
          the slices in our souls,
          and the scars on our flesh,
so that we may be freed from our sufferings
and be moved to bring recovery to our neighbors who endure torment.
In the name of Jesus,
          who brings us wholeness through your woundedness and grace.
Amen.

   We departed worship this past Sunday with the story of the Passion of the Christ ringing in our ears. It is a story of betrayal, of suffering, of despair, and of apparent failure, that finally closes with little semblance of hope. In fact, there is really no hope at the end of Friday's events, except for a couple of words Jesus offered back on a Galilean road about rising again and a prediction he made earlier this week about rebuilding the Temple in three days. Like those first disciples, most of us would choose despair in light of the sparse evidence before our eyes that the story could possibly be redeemed.
   Yet, when we gather again on Friday, to prepare our hearts for what is to come, and again on Sunday, the story does continue. My prayer is that the hope offered by the very Word of God will carry us this week, and every week, as we confront daily the evidence of the brokenness of our world. God, in Christ, is at work even now putting all of this back together. May the grace and peace of waiting and anticipating be ours. Scott

Preparing for a Holy Week

   Just a few weeks ago, the Church gathered for Ash Wednesday and started this journey called Lent towards Jerusalem, the Cross, and Easter’s empty tomb. Now, in this the last week of Lent, we remember Christ’s Passion. It is a week of special devotion. The word ‘Passion’ comes from the Latin word patior, meaning “I suffer”. It was Athanasius, an early church theologian and later a bishop, who referred to it as ‘holy Paschal week.’ Greek and Roman worship books called it the “Great Week” because great deeds were done by God during this week.
   In the early church, only Friday and Saturday were observed as holy days. By the late 4th century the various parts of the Passion story given to us in the Gospels had been separated out, and people began commemorating them on the days of the week on which they had occurred. You’ll recognize these:

Palm Sunday: Jesus’ triumphal entrance into the city

Maundy Thursday: Judas’ betrayal and the first Holy Communion

Good Friday: The crucifixion, death, and burial of Jesus

Holy Saturday: Jesus’ body rests in the tomb

Easter Sunday: The Resurrection of Jesus, the Christ

   It was actually the ancient Christians in the church in Jerusalem that first organized dramatic ceremonies during Holy Week at appropriate local holy sites that had been restored by the Emperor Constantine. Visitors to the city were so moved that these ceremonies have spread from Jerusalem to churches worldwide. We celebrate many of them this coming week, as we remember and are transformed by story of God’s love and overwhelming grace.
   Epworth gathers this Palm Sunday, and then again on Good Friday, to hear the story of the Passion of the Christ. Long before Mel Gibson created the splendid, gruesome, and highly-profitable movie of the same name, the church recorded the story and set out to retell it every year that we might not forget. From the sight and sound of children waving palm branches into the room, through the placement of Jesus' body in a tomb, we will hear the account of the final hours before the stone is place and the story seems finished.
      May the grace and peace of waiting and anticipating be ours. Scott

God draws close at Easter

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), "I am thirsty." A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. 

    The Gospel of John offers these details about the last moments of Jesus earthly life in chapter 19. Jesus' final words were "It is finished." His body could no longer endure the suffering. Yet, there is something more going on with Jesus' last words. Marcus Dods, from his Footsteps in the Path of Life, suggests:

The purpose of God in the history of man was accomplished when Jesus breathed his last upon the cross. The cry “It is finished” was not the mere gasp of a worn-out life; it was not the cry of satisfaction with which a career of pain and sorrow is terminated; it was the deliberate utterance of a clear consciousness on the part of God’s appointed Revealer that now all had been done that could be done to make God known to man and to identify him with men. God’s purpose had ever been one and indivisible – declared to men in various ways, a hint here, a broad light there, now by a gleam of insight in the mind of a prophet, now by a deed or heroism in king or leader, through rude contrivances and through the tenderest of human affections and the highest human thoughts. God had been making men ever more and more sensible that his one purpose was to come closer and closer into fellowship with him, and to draw them into a perfect harmony with him. Forgiveness and deliverance from sin were provided for them, knowledge of God’s law and will, thus they might learn to know and to serve him – all these were secured when Jesus cried, “It is finished.”

   God draws closer to women and men at Easter. History is indeed filled with the efforts of God to awaken humanity to the goodness of intent of our Creator. God hinted here, revealed there, spoke then, and nudged us again and again. Easter is different. Easter is both declaration of intent and the erasing of past grievances. Easter is the forgiveness for the past and the new promise of the future.
   May our songs, as varied as we are, and our attention to God's holy story draws us and others closer to the truth of all that Jesus accomplished in that first Holy Week.
   Grace and Peace, Scott

Prayer is Not Like That or That...So Slow Down

"The great thing is prayer. Prayer itself. If you want a life of prayer, the way to get it is by praying. We were indoctrinated so much into means and ends that we don't realize that there is a different dimension in the life of prayer. In technology you have this short horizontal progress, where you must start at one point and move to another and then another. But that is not the way to build a life of prayer. In prayer we discover what we already have. Start where you are and you deepen what you already have. And you realize that you are already there."

Thomas Merton, 1980

   Just last week, I wrote about progress: about moving from one place to another. Our construction has been progressing. Our Vision Team - tasked with discerning how the Spirit of a God has made Epworth unique compared to 10,000 other churches - has been progressing. But, to be honest, I've had a sense that I've been standing still. 

Thomas Merton

   In the quote above, Thomas Merton, the contemplative giant of the last century, says that prayer is unlike the progress seen in these modern examples. Prayer is not about progress or movement from one place to another. It is discovering what we already have. I believe this helps to explain the struggle I've lived with this Season of Lent. I have struggled to pray. I have prayed - but not in the amounts or the quality that I know Jesus desires. It is not for trying. One part of my Lenten observance was to fast from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I've accomplished that goal almost flawlessly for five weeks now and have loved the extra time, but I have not translated this gained time to better prayer. 

   It is then that I re-read another passage from Merton that drives home how difficult this is. It is learning to slow down to the pace we were made for and give up the exhilarating, addicting speeds that our world now would have us believe are normal (and required if we are going to be counted as successful). Merton writes,

"If we really want prayer, we'll have to give it time. We must slow down to a human tempo and we'll begin to listen. And as soon as we listen to what's going on, things will begin to take shape by themselves."

   May this Easter come with a renewed sense of how much God loves us and wants to speak to us through the gift of prayer. May we be silent enough and slow down enough to experience this. Grace and Peace, Scott

Finding the Space Needed: Lent

   Construction is about more than just materials and labor. You have to know where to place things, and where to leave spaces in your work for other things to occupy. In last week's meeting, the Epworth Building Committee talked at length about the space above the new ceilings that will soon occupy our hallways. Space is important.
   My mentor, Coach John Wooden, referred frequently to space. He said you could learn a lot about basketball by watching the players without the ball. Good players move well in space - that area where no one else is located. Success in sports is moving in space to be in the right place to score.
   We probably don't consider the importance of space enough. Our lives are filled up. There us no room for space. We cram our days, our cars, our homes, our calendars. Most vacations are so filled up with stuff that people return home tired.
   We must be intentional about space. Creating space requires our attention and our diligence.
    The Season of Lent started this week on Ash Wednesday. Lent is a forty day period, excluding Sundays, during which disciples of Jesus Christ prepare themselves spiritually for the remembrance of Christ's suffering, death and resurrection.  The name is derived from the Old English, lengten, a reference to the lengthening of the days in the spring. Beginning in the second century, Christians would undergo a brief period of fasting and prayer in preparation for Good Friday and Easter. The number forty corresponds to the many key moments of space in the Bible. Such moments can bring much needed space between the demands and the 'doing' of life. This season is a time for more intense and intentional spiritual growth during which we remember the message, the life, the suffering and death of Christ.
   In the tradition of the ancient church, I am inviting Epworth people to do three things this Lent:
1.  Be in worship every weekend you are in town.
2.  Give up something as a fast and expression of your faith and identification with Jesus' suffering.
3.  Be quiet. Join the whole church in spending a few minutes each day with the sound off. Instead, listen to the leading of God through prayer and simple meditation.
   I need some more space; not to get away from people or responsibilities. I need more space to get closer to the best stuff of life. May Lent be a holy time to find the space between for all of us.
   Grace and Peace, Scott

First Days

  The first days of summer have me thinking about starting over. We've heard the cliches.

The first day of the rest of your life.

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

  The importance of the first moment or first day is captured in the Scriptures. The story of Creation begins with God at work on the first day. Then, in the Gospels, which tell of God re-creating the world through Jesus Christ, we are told that the women went to the tomb on the first day only to find it empty. Easter is the first day of the rest of history.

  Think of all the first days you have experienced. First day of school. First day in a new city. First day in a new job. First day at home with a newborn child. Each one is precious and powerful in our minds. Of course, on that first day we don't know what the future will hold. But we do know that it all starts with the choice to do a new thing.
  Our worship this weekend takes on a First Day theme. I was inspired some time back by a song by Matt Maher. The chorus says,

This is the first day of the rest of your life

‘Cause even in the dark you can still see the light

It’s gonna be alright, it’s gonna be alright

  In an article talking about the 2010 song he says, "You know, the Gospel does not promise wealth. It does not promise earthly success. Jesus in the scriptures promises two things — 1. trouble 2. peace in the midst of it." He goes on to capture his ideas by saying "To love is to risk and be promised extraordinary highs and lows; it will help you soar through the highs, and carry you through the lows, so you can help carry your neighbor through."
  I want every person to have the opportunity to make a first day sort of commitment. We don't know what the future holds, but we do know that is our love for each other that helps carry us through. That is what Epworth is about. That is the joy and blessing of what it means to be the church. So with Andy playing a new song in worship this weekend, I want you to be present for a special morning.
  You should also come prepared to see something new when you walk into our building. It is another small way we are moving forward and welcoming our neighbors and each other to this great place.
  See you in worship. Grace and Peace, Scott

What fills in the Gap?

   After the resurrection, Jesus led the disciples through a wonderful forty days of learning, worshiping and praying. The plans executed by the Romans and Jews left the first leaders of the early church in a gap they had never anticipated: preparing to carry out the mission of Jesus without Jesus around! 
   Gaps happen. Things don’t connect all the way, plans don’t work out, little spaces become larger ones. One thing does not always flow naturally into the next and a space occurs in between. Gaps happen. What matters is the ‘what’ that we use to fill in the gaps. 
   In February 2012, the leadership of Epworth presented to the congregation, a plan to purchase property, create access from Manchester Expressway, significantly improve our visibility in the community and expand our parking. Visibility and parking have long been two challenges before our congregation. This plan would address both and use money already in our possession that was designated for just such capital improvements. The church supported the plan with 87% of our membership in favor of it.
   Despite our best efforts, gaps have come up in the plan. The largest gap is the speed and ability of the sellers to obtain ‘clear title’ to the property we contracted with them to purchase in September of last year. They must go through a legal process (one we are told might take 8-12 weeks) involving public notification to any possible other owners before being in a position to sell. Our contract with them expired at the end of March. They have been in touch with us since then, but to date little progress has been made. We are being very cautious and I believe have acted as wise stewards throughout.
   Our church’s Building Committee has patiently waited and is readying to restart conversations around the ‘what next’ question that such gaps have created. The visibility and parking challenges remain. What other solutions address those? What is the best use of our saved resources? How many other areas of need could be addressed in the intervening time while this gap continues? What happens if the land becomes available next month or in six months?
   Gaps happen. The question before Epworth is what are we going to fill the gap with? My experience here is that leaders step in asking great questions, listening to the right people and leading in visionary directions. That needs to continue. I have a great deal of trust and appreciation for the leaders who have gone before us and those who are with us now. May we continue to fill in the gaps with a deep sense of God's leading that comes from listening and stepping out on faith.
   Grace and Peace, Scott

Easter

"Easter"

Sing, soul of mine, this day of days.

The Lord is risen.

Toward the sunrising set thy face.

The Lord is risen.

Behold He giveth strength and grace;

For darkness, light; for mourning, praise;

For sin, his holiness; for conflict, peace.

Arise, O soul, this Easter Day!

Forget the tomb of yesterday,

For thou from bondage art set free;

Thou sharest in His victory

And life eternal is for thee,

Because the Lord is risen.

Author Unknown, (Edward MacHugh's Treasury of Gospel Hymns and Poems, 1938)

   I treasure the collection of poems and clippings that my grandfather Carlton shared with my cousin, my brother and myself for our preaching ministry a few years ago before he passed away. This poem, that he used in his own ministry, speaks plainly to the Gospel call at Easter. Easter is about praise. Easter is is grounded in the reality of the resurrected Son of God. Easter offers the power to leave behind the past and be set free from that which binds us. Easter is the brilliant, beautiful, and perfectly-planned alternative to suffering and death that God offers to those who would believe.

   There is something to be said of being able to dust off an old poem and use it for a new day. The truth is that these truths remain. They are constant. Paul said when all else fails or falls away that faith, hope and love will remain. Easter is the very intersection of these three. 

   There is an sense in which each Easter, like each day, is to be treated as something new. Jeremiah declares the Lord's mercies "are new every morning" (Lamentations 3:23). Yet, there is also a part of me that believes the newness of that first Easter has never worn off. If it seems a distant memory, it is because we have forgotten. 

   This Easter, let us celebrate the truths that never fade away. Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. Grace and Peace to you, Scott

The Missing __ Changes Everything

OurFatherwhoartinheavenhallowedbetheynameThykingdomcomethywillbedone

onearthasitisinheavenGiveusthisdayourdailybreadAndforgiveusourtrespasses

asweforgivethosewhotrespassagainstusAndleadusnotintotemptation

butdeliverusfromevilForthineisthekingdom

andthepowerandthegloryforeverAmen

  This is not right. While it has the exact same substance and content of the prayer that our Lord Jesus taught to his disciples, it is not the same thing. Not a single letter has been changed but one little absence changes the way we experience it. The spaces are missing. The Lord's Prayer is not the Lord's Prayer when we remove the space between the words. The missing __ changes everything.
  I think the same could be said of life. The spaces in life are often the difference between substance that makes sense and works as compared to the same substance that is too closely crammed together as to be helpful. We can be blessed by three deep and moving conversations in a day or week, but if they were to come one after the other, in succession with no time in between to process them, then the affect is different. Most people would resonate with being busy, but we define too busy as not having enough time. Think of the time in between like space. Life is lessened without the space in between. Some people call it margin. They have come to realize that margin in and around what we do allow for us to breathe, to reflect, to prepare, and to cherish. To live without these critical elements is not good for body or soul. I believe Jesus modeled this throughout his ministry and wants the same of us.
  This idea came up this week as I visited with Sister Chris at Blessed Trinity Shrine Retreat for spiritual direction. She loved hearing about our congregation's efforts to spend a few moments in silence during the Season of Lent. I shared with her that I had been trying it but was struggling some. Would you believe she told me to do less. Instead of 8-10 minutes of quiet, centering prayer, I should start with 2-3 minutes. She encouraged me to then return to it in small moments through the rest of the day, seeking to regain that word from God as the day went on. I offer this to you, as well.
  May the space you take in between the stuff of life be a place where you encounter the God who made and loves you. Peace, Scott

Preparing for Something Different

   We live in routines. We thrive in them. There are occasions  however, that our routines are altered or put aside. In those moments or seasons, we know that there will be some preparation that is needed. We prepare for guests. We prepare for events. We prepare for tests or examinations. Preparation is the precursor to important or special diversions away from our routine.

   We don't know the routine that Jesus had in the years before he answered the call to ministry. We do know, though, that he spent time preparing for the changes that were ahead. This is best captured in the story of the forty Days Jesus spent in the wilderness. Mark's Gospel, known for its economy of words, describes it like this:

"And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts;
and the angels waited on him." Mark 1:12-13

When the church chose forty days to be the length of the Season of Lent, this was one of the places it looked for support. Like those forty days Jesus spent preparing, the church intends that Season of Lent help prepare us for what is to come.

   The prominent place given to the ministry of preparation is not limited to stories about what Jesus did, though. Jesus is often instructed his followers to also be those who prepare. In Matthew 25 he tells a story about 10 bridesmaids who are expecting, at any moment, the bridegroom to arrive. The wedding, literally a party, would begin in that moment. They needed to be ready. But five of them were not. He ends with the admonition, "Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour." Jesus, in other stories like the one in Luke 12, suggests that God comes like one who arrives and knocks in search of those who are prepared. He says, "be like those who are waiting for their master to return...so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks."

   That first Easter was the most significant moment in history. We celebrate it each year and anticipate new blessings and new insights from its return. I, personally, cling to the promise of hope that Easter offers. I need to know that Jesus conquered death. I need to hear a good word that these mortal bodies are not all we have. Such a moment of celebration is indeed a change of routine. It is something for which I must prepare.

   I pray you will join me in preparing. Whether it be through the imposition of ashes this week, worship each Sunday, studying the scriptures, or fasting and denying yourself something during Lent - start preparing for Easter. 

   Grace and Peace, Scott

Easter is Coming

   We’ve been waiting. For those of us who have been traveling on this Lenten Journey toward Easter weekend, anticipation has been rising as it draws closer. We believe Easter is a weekend so significant that we dare not approach it unprepared. However, I’m sort of ready for it finally to arrive. The forty days of wait is so long. That is not to say that I’m completely ready to take in the majesty of hearing the words, “the tomb is empty” or to try and keep pace with those sprinting disciples who leave the garden and run out to tell the world.  I’m just tired of waiting.
   As I read through the Gospel accounts of Jesus as he approaches Jerusalem, I cannot help but want to get to the end of the story. How many times will he tell those disciples how it all turns out? Yet they never hear him. They continue on believing that their way of doing things – which would have had Jesus force himself on people – all the while Jesus is telling them that it will actually be the people who force their way on him. He will be rejected, wrongly accused, brutally treated, and finally killed. He puts it as plain as he can to them, but nevertheless, they are oblivious.
   I’m ready for Easter to finally arrive in the biblical story, so the disciples can see all that God is doing. I want them – like myself – to be made aware of how marvelous is God’s grace, and how amazing is God’s love. But for now, we’ll join Jesus and those disciples on the Mount of Olives and join in with the singing and palm-waving, thinking that the rest is easy. It was not easy for Jesus, and will probably not be for us, but we’ll have to wait some more to learn exactly what all of that means.
   Grace and Peace, Scott

"Helicopter Parents" Ruin Easter Egg Hunt

   Did you read or see the story out of Colorado Springs this week? Read it here. It seems organizers of an annual Easter egg hunt attended by hundreds of children have canceled this year’s event, citing the bad behavior of parents who swarmed into the park last year, determined that their kids get an egg. Instead of a few moments of fun and adventure by children searching and finding, too many parents had jumped a rope set up to allow only children into Bancroft Park in a historic area of Colorado Springs. Organizers say the event has outgrown its original intent of being a neighborhood event. Parenting observers cite the cancellation as a prime example of so-called “helicopter parents” - those who hover over their children and are involved in every aspect of their children’s lives - sports, school, and increasingly work — to ensure that they don’t fail, even at an Easter egg hunt.

   There is so much to say, and so little room to say it. 

• First, aren't we glad the miracle of Jesus' love for us and the power of God's over death cannot be ruined by pushy parents! These are the real events of Easter. 
• Second, it is getting more and more difficult to parent well these days. We want our children to grow, but worry so much that their growth might be hindered by a fall or a failure or a lack of something that we are tempted to meddle where we shouldn't.  
• Finally, the church is needed more than ever to speak the wonderful words of life into the families in our community. The truth of God's abundance and love for us would do wonders to ease anxieties and fears.

   This is what ORANGE is all about, and certainly what we are setting out to do at this weekend's  Family Picnic and Easter Eggs-travaganza. We want families of every size from ! on up to join us on Saturday afternoon. Come help us show our neighbors the love of Jesus and have fun doing it.

God's Truths Burst Through All Around Us

After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said.

Matthew 28:1-6

      
   We had a great group gather on Sunday evening to watch one of Disney's latest hit movies, Tangled. We invited the families from Allen Elementary to join us, and many of them did!  What a privilege to be host to our neighbors for a night of fun.

   Near the end of the movie, when things are still in doubt, there comes a moment when the only thing that will save the day is a miracle. Evil seems to be winning and the good guys need something divine to happen. Just then, when all hope seems lost, a ray of light begins to shine in the darkness.  Death is conquered, and light burst forth into the room and into the life of the hero who previously lay lifeless.  I turned to Lillian Woolridge, sitting next to me, and asked, "Have you ever wondered what the moment of Christ's Resurrection looked like?"  She looked back at me, thinking I was crazy, and we continued watching the movie.
   I cannot help it; the themes of God's Holy Scriptures seem to appear in the most random, and often most divine moments. Redemption, forgiveness, peace, creation, discipleship, faith, doubt, fear, plenty, sacrifice...these are the truths and concepts we read in the bible, and see lived out around us.  For a moment on Sunday night, sitting in a crowd watching an animated movie, I was drawn closer to God’s grace on that Easter Sunday morning that Matthew captured with the verses above.
   We claim that the Bible is the Living Word of God.  Maybe this is one part of it: the truths of the Bible are alive because they continue living on in our lives. I pray that as we move outward from Easter, we do so with eyes wide open to the amazing stories of redemption and triumph God is delivering around us, even now.