... A Little Closer to Home

Communication

2012-02-06T17:14:00.001-06:00

She is a student at Simpson College. We shared lunch last week while the Simpson College Trustees met.
The young woman lowered her voice as if asking a very difficult question, "So what are your personal goals with your job?" "Well, umm," I said as I searched my thoughts for a goal worthy of the earnetness of the inquirey. Sometimes I like to joke around and play off the moment, but not this time. So I motioned her to come closer and I spoke in a low and solomn tone. "I am a subversive; my goal is to make disciples for Jesus Christ. Most of the time I just do stuff that looks like I am doing church work, pays the bills, you know."
She physically backed away as if I had some smelling salts in my pocket. Then she smiled and offered a glimmer of understanding. Then came her next question, "How do you communicate that with the people you work with?" My answer was honest and lacking, "Not very well." She encouraged me to continue to blog, tweet, and facebook. "It is the way we communicate these days." It was good to focus on one thing and know it is of ultimate importance for me and this young woman.
Everyone is so busy and on thier way someplace.Where are you headed? What are your personal goals? Are you following the crowd or going the wrong way?

O Foggy Night!

2011-12-13T16:47:00.000-06:00

Let me clear the air a bit of the Advent/Christmas fog. I am consistently hearing from good Christian folks that Advent, these precious days leading toward Christmas, are special days to get busy by preparing ourselves. While I understand the logic, too often feels like a “Santa Clause religion.” You know the drill, Santa is going to find out who is naughty and nice and then there will be sort of judgment day on Christmas Eve, so you better be good. I hear the church echoing some of the same insights such as; you better get busy and be productive for Christ, you better prepare the way of the Lord, you better forgive, attend, witness, and offer or else you might miss the “real” Christmas. In a strange humorous way, as a superintendent for the church, I can appreciate the guilt path of “you better be good,” because many times it works.

However, as a theologian and child of God, I am here to proclaim it just isn’t so. Christmas doesn’t need our good works, our good gifts, or our good anything. Truth is you/we do not deserve Christmas, not a bit. Truth is we cannot seem to do much of anything worthy of God’s love, never have. And this is the power of the season. Christmas is something God is doing and we cannot change a single thing about it. It will be what God wants it to be. Period. And that is grace so large my eyes begin to leak water.

I do not give myself to the season because God needs me to do so. I give myself because I believe in Jesus Christ as the Lord of the entire world. My faith is secure that Jesus came to save all people, those who care and those who do not; those who sing in choirs and those who curse in darkness; those who give with all their hearts and those who have yet to find their hearts, let alone their ability to give.

My heart tells me to sit quietly and listen for the voice of God during this season. My soul wants to sing praise to God, not of my need to act. “Get busy or miss the season”; sounds like more Santa talk to me.

“Come and sit here by me Mary. Sit and listen to what your heart is telling you. Martha, come quickly and join your sister Mary. She has chosen the better path which will never be taken away from her.” My paraphrase of Luke 10:38 FF

"Season of Holy Moley"

2011-04-24T21:18:00.001-05:00

“Holy Moley,” she exclaimed as she poked her eyes over the edge of the mixing bowl. Cheryl and a granddaughter were busy making cookies last week. I can only wonder at the comment made by the 3 yr old as the beaters began to stir the batter. Was she surprised, perhaps even amazed, by what she was seeing. Or was she just being a three year old who has a flair for the dramatic at times.

I have experienced Moley, even Holy Moley, at times in my life. Feels like less as I get older. However, I often wonder if that is because of my inattentiveness or because I am not as easily shocked. A few of my experiences of Holy Moley are, seeing my wife walking down the isle toward me at our wedding, experiencing the birth of our children, and seeing natural wonders like the Rocky Mountains, the Grand Canyon, and the Ocean.

Wouldn’t that be the same reaction of the women and the disciples when they encountered the risen Christ? Holy Moley! Maybe a brief season following Easter should be called the season of Holy Moley. Works for me.

Is Moley even a word? I do not think so. Still communicates, just the same.

"New for Easter"

2011-04-19T23:11:00.003-05:00

New!

I am thinking: What do I really know about New?

I know the Smell of New.

New plastic swimming pool,

New leather boots,

New hay stacked in a barn.

I know the Feel of New

New haircut on a Saturday night,

New dollar bill, stiff and crisp,

New skin over an old scar.

I know the Look of New

New moon in the sky,

New car in the showroom,

New tooth just breaking the skin.

I know the Sound of New.

New calf’s First gargling breath,

New guitar strings stretching into tune,

New gravel on the road home.

Maybe new is not really altogether new. Not always.

Maybe new is new for today, new only to us, or new for just a season.

Maybe why something is new is more important than how.

What do I really know about New?

Maybe, Easter.

A Good Friday

2011-04-11T17:56:00.000-05:00

I scratch me head. I ponder the sight.

I lower me chin. I kick dirt for spite.

Thou speak without words; like clouds in the wind.

And I feel me pain, while I suffer thy death.

Brother, my brother, what purpose this.

And I scratch me head. I lower me chin.

Bury Me With the Remote

2011-02-01T23:40:00.000-06:00

Several of our pastors in the district have been quite busy with funerals the last few weeks, which is not unusual for January. It can be difficult to keep up with all the day to day and provide for the needs of hurting families, as we also attempt to deal with our own grief.

Funerals and the grief work surrounding them can also be surprisingly humorous at times. I offer this personal experience from a few years ago.

As the pastor, I was in the lead car of the funeral procession. We had to stop before entering the cemetery gates because of oncoming traffic leaving the cemetery. As a work-van sped past us to make room in the gateway I noticed the business logo in colorful bold type. It simply read, “Cable TV.”

Now I am sure there was a valid reason for that crew to be in the cemetery during the middle of the day, but to tell you the truth, I chuckled and wondered aloud that some things in life are probably not as they appear. To this day I smile thinking about that work van driving past a mile of cars and all those folks who were thinking the same thing.

What Will We Look Like?

2011-01-27T14:24:00.002-06:00

I recently answered a number of questions as part of the Program Review process. One, in particular, struck me and I share both the question and my response here:

The mission of the United Methodist Church is “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”

The mission of the Iowa Annual Conference is “to make disciples, develop leaders and transform the world.”

What will the Annual Conference look like if this mission is accomplished?

We cannot know how the Iowa Annual Conference might look when the mission is accomplished. Some believe the Annual Conference would look more like a powerful political party with strength and leadership taking center stage. This view engages the idea that the Annual Conference would be the center of life for the disciples called United Methodist and all would act and work together in concert with no little ability to make change for the good within our area of influence. Some believe the Annual Conference would look much less robust, even somewhat ordinary or pedestrian. This view understands the transformation of the world could make the work of the Annual Conference obsolete or at the very least diminished.

The view from the Central District is that, regardless of the direction the wind may blow, making Disciples is and will be a continuing process as new people come to the church, others grow in their relationship to the church, and still others come of age within the church.

We cannot know the future, but we can understand this vital point, we shall be changed. What we shall be has not yet been revealed, but we know we will be like Christ. Perhaps our humble willingness to be changed, transformed, or born again, is as close to an answer as we are able to provide. In hope, in truth, in love we shall be changed. We shall all be changed to offer grace and peace in ways which defend and reconcile all persons. We shall be changed to hold together in tension the very best of truth and love.

And we believe this must be done with an incredible sense of urgency and must include addressing the four areas of focus identified by the denomination:

• Initiating new faith communities and revitalizing existing congregations

• Leadership Development

• Alleviating Poverty, particularly for Children

• Eradicating Killer Diseases

Central District Leadership will work toward setting specific goals in these areas of focus.

Step Away then Step Back

2011-01-11T11:46:00.001-06:00

Living in close proximity to our neighbors, what they do rubs off on us and moves us ever so slightly toward a new understanding of the world. This works both ways.

The church universal is called to be a pinch of leaven in the whole loaf. We accomplish this task through our faithfulness, regardless of season or position. We may believe our meager gifts are of no real account, but the church has always taught that the Kingdom of God has a whole different way of promoting what is right and true.

In God’s Kingdom you are a difference maker when you offer peace. In God’s kingdom you are somebody when you settle your dispute with justice. In God’s kingdom you have accomplished great things when you share your possessions with love. The kingdom is full of persons who are faithful and kind. But so is the church full of persons who know all the words, but suffer short with their application. We in the church tend to watch the nightly news a little too closely and believe all that is offered a little too easily. We turn away too quickly, we focus on ourselves a little too faithfully.

A friend offered a prayer that we should, “Step away from the world for a little bit.” I have pondered this idea. And we can gain to separate ourselves from our neighbors for a time to enable our heaven connection to become functional. I wonder how do you step away from the world? Can you find the presence of God in a TV show or Internet site? Do you work hard at stepping away or would yours be more like tripping away or falling away? Is this stepping away more like a tango, barn dance, or a ballet or does it even matter as long as one moves within the arms of God. To step away from the world for a time, feels like a good thing for ones who are called by God to offer love and grace to a hurting and angry world.

If stepping away to gather perspective and strength for tomorrow is important, so is the re-engaging of the world. I have long suspected that the church has stepped away and wants no part of the stepping back. We rather like our little nest and are cozy here. Yet, the gospel calls us to go into the world and offer the world grace. Surely our God will be strong enough, present enough, and mighty enough to accompany you and me on our stepping back into our neighborly relationships.

So yes, sisters and brothers, step away from the world for a time of refreshment and retooling. This may be your Sunday worship time, or mid-week study time, a small accountability or prayer group. But, then step back into relationship with the world and begin again to be the neighbor your neighbor needs, the neighbor Jesus talked about. Trust and let the Holy Spirit lead you.

Thinking Baseball on a Snowy Day

2011-01-11T09:42:00.001-06:00

Baseball. Life is like baseball.

We may be retired from the game, but we can still remember the excitement of the late inning victory and the pain of a one run loss. We may be active in coaching or umpiring and assist others to gain knowledge and discipline from the structure imbedded in the contest. Or we may be an active participant in the game on a regular basis finding new ways to express our ability with a ball, bat and glove.

At any age, at any level, baseball is a lesson in life. At first glace, the game appears to be so very easy, and in fact it is possible to gain a fair amount of competence with just a little practice and courage. And yet as we grow in our achievement we find the game is beyond complex. We soon find perfection to be a thing strived for and yet not likely to be attained beyond a fleeting moment of our breath in the midst of a lifetime.

The elements are basic to life: Dirt, Sweat, Wood, Leather, a little Spit. God used some dirt early in creation. Noah used some wood to make a boat. Jesus used some spit to heal a blind man. The rules are straightforward: Strike or Ball, Out or Safe. It takes a human judgment to discern the authority, but isn’t that just like life.

And just as the book telling of our life is not complete until the last chapter has been written, so the game is not over until the last out.

The ballplayers come and go and every season is new and full of promise. To win the championship is to achieve a relative greatness. Ahh, but to love the game is to win an even greater reward. Every summer teams find themselves standing in awe while in the midst of the long line of players before them who played, “just for the love of the game.”

Remember the feel of the wood in your hands and the crack of the ball as it leaves the yard. Remember the walk back to the dugout after strike three.

Remember ice cream for the whole team, win or lose.

Yeah, baseball is like life, big time.

Christmas Story

2010-12-17T16:43:00.001-06:00

A story of shepherds and angels, and yet,

Ours is a vision of shoppers and strangers.

A story historically inaccurate, and yet,

This is day which annually makes history.

A story painful beyond expectation, and yet,

The pain is where we really connect.

A story of loneliness and fear, and yet,

It is best embodied within community with great joy.

A story more misunderstood everyday, and yet,

It still offers truth, even to children.

A story about less, and yet,

It is always a story of more.

May you find more this Christmas.

A Fable: The Farmer and the Rock

2010-12-17T13:15:00.003-06:00

Once upon a time there was a farmer who farmed a field containing a large rock. The rock was close to the middle of the field and stood proudly for all to see, much like a iceberg in the sea. The rock was a irritant to the farmer. All his life he had plowed and planted around the rock. It was always in the way, took up room, and was good for nothing. The rock seemed to the farmer to be a constant reminder of what the farmer was not.

The farmer tried moving the rock. It would not budge. He tried breaking up the rock with a hammer, but it was quite large. Year afer year the farmer battled the rock. The rock stood.

Years passed and the farmer finally got old and died. But just before he died the farmer had a brilliant idea. And so he ... (you fill in the blank.)

As one might guess, the rock and the farmer became famous in all the land. Many people come from far away just to look at the rock and consider their own lives. The end.

Questions to Ponder

1. How did the rock remind the farmer of his own life?
2. Were there other rocks in the same field? In other fields?
3. What did the farmers impending death have to do with his new idea?
4. Have you ever traveled to see a rock?
5 . Do you have a rock in your field? What are you doing about it?

Fall Softly Snow

2010-12-12T18:24:00.001-06:00

Snow does not always fall softly.

One of my mother-in-laws favorite songs is a classic Christmas song titled, "Fall Softly Snow."

Fall Softly Snow

The verses tell the story of the Christ child born on a cold winter night and all the surrounding effects combine to tell the story. Even the snow falls softly around the young family as the night wears on into the morning of a new day.

Living in a new home for the first winter we have experinced many new and strange noises. While expected, the banging and cracking noises related to wood and vinyl sideing expanding and contracting have been a surprise. But I have to say that the wind the other evening with the snow pelting the North side of the house was not silent. The snow was not falling softly.

Snowflakes, like our individual lives, are unique. Each one is different, but also essentially the same. Yes, some snow falls quiet, like a whisper, like a dream. However other times, snow falls loud, stinging everything it touches. Yes, maybe snow is more like people than we might think.

To enjoy a look at some amazing snowflakes click on the link: SnowCrystals.com

In the meantime, enjoy the snow. It's the cold temperatures I could do without.

The Path More Traveled

2010-11-29T00:18:00.000-06:00

Robert Frost said something like this: Two paths diverged into the woods, and I took the one less traveled and it has made all the difference." These words have inspired me and instructed me to do things like take a light plane ride to fly around the top of Denali, to ride my bicycle across the state of Iowa, and even to follow a call into ministry. Many times I have taken a path less traveled and found something inspiration and renewal just around the bend or rise beyond my vision.

However, as of late I have been thinking about the fact that for all the hoopla about these private and personal paths, I always seem to find myself ending up in the midst of community. It is like the path I think is less traveled is actually the path everyone else is on as well, it just seems less frequented somehow until the community is revealed. Or perhaps all paths lead home or at least back to the main road and before I know it, I am in the midst of the well worn path again moving along with fellowship and new responsibilities.

We Americans are a fragile bunch, we need to think we are rugged indivudulalist even when we are not. I sold my Jeep when we moved to Des Moines. I miss it. Even more, I miss the idea I can just cut across any old beanfield if I really needed. Don't think the Prius rental ..., well, never mind. The point is that I very seldom ever used the very freedom I seemed to think I needed. Every Jeep comercial I see reminds me, as I watch a 60K SUV bounce through rivers and across rocks as if. It is just an illusion I tell you, this need for my personal independence. I do not need the road less taken. Never did.

Maybe I am just getting older and this is all a part of that maturing thing. Or maybe I am on to something and we all need to get off our rocking horses and begin to walk with each other for a mile or two. We really need to begin to rethink the power of the connection. Being alone is never a word of creation. The relationship is transformative.

No, these days I am into taking the road more traveled. In the midst of the well traveled road is where life happens. This is not about comfort, or even ease of travel. Rather this is about being with other people. Hard as this is to consider, even harder to believe, I need other people. As pretty as a mountian view may be, I must find ways to share it with fellow travelers; and that has made all the diference.

What Are You Waiting For?

2010-11-26T11:12:00.010-06:00

Waiting for the President On the Steps of the White House

Advent begins and I wonder who cares.

The word advent does not mean to wait, rather it means the begining of something. However the tradition of the church offers as we begin a new year, the first proper thing to do, is to do nothing, but wait a while.

We are instructed to pause and ponder, to consider and let the magnitude of the thing which is about to take place find it's proper rank in our to do lists. Thus the question, "What are you waiting for."

If I have considered and discerned that for which I wait, for which I hope and yearn, then I will also likely know how to best respond and which paths to choose as the year moves forward. If however, I am consumed by the events without perpective, my life may be swallowed by impuse responses with little or no connecton to anything I truely value. If the couple in the garden would have paused to consider the question and the source of the questions, I doubt they would have been so easily beguiled. I find this still true for us today. For what are you waiting? I believe the answer is a key to your happiness and your relationship with the world around you.

Are you waiting for a savior? Are you waiting for a king? Or perhaps a new Queen or princess? Are you waiting to grow? Are you waiting to survive? Are you waiting to eat or get warm. Are you waiting for shelter, or for yor ship to come in? Are you waiting on someone else, something beyond your control? Are you waiting with others or by yourself? Are you waiting in pain, in boredom, or celebration? Are you waiting for something more, something less, or perhaps just something, anything; Beuhler... .

http://www.old-picture.com/defining-moments.htm

Waiting is work. Not doing can also be understood as doing something. Waiting is doing something, and for me personally is usually quite productive. Pausing to reflect as a new season begins is a mature response to the world. And hard as this may sound, to stay young forever is not our goal, rather it is to mature, and to do so gracefully.

So I ask you, for what are you waiting? The answer defines our days.

I am Wondering

2010-11-13T10:44:00.006-06:00

Do you eat the ice cream stuck to the bottom of the lid of the carton?
I call it lid cream.
What is it: yes or no?

"I say no way. There is something a little strange about the ice cream stuck to the lid. I am not touching it."

2010-11-07T23:18:00.001-06:00

A Strong Bond
Here is a picture of my clergy accountability group for the past few years before our move to Des Moines: Larry, Tom, Dave, Dean, and we were missing Mike in the Picture. Larry died in late summer and we all miss him quite a bit. Dean was right, we never were a lectionary group. Most of our time was laughing and being too loud (Tom) for the HyVee deli on Mondays at noon. Carry on brothers, Larry would have it no other way!

2010-11-07T21:16:00.003-06:00

Everything Changes
The Bishop called, invited Cheryl and me to Dinner. Everything changes. "Would you accept a new appointment as a Conference Superintendent assigned to the Iowa Central District." After a sleepless night I said "yes." That was late in February 2010.

I have been off the blog since, not because I have not noticed anything new or have nothing to say, rather it has been a time of learning a new place and of being quiet if not careful.

In my first few months I have learned humility is still the best ministry path; I must not take myself too seriously. Even as others do.
Because when I visit a church or sit and chat with a pastor I do so as an extension of our Bishop. What you say to me you say to the Bishop, whatever you offer me in word or action you offer to the Bishop. Some understand this. Others seem to think I am a paper pusher, someone to be tolerated, and little more. Our Book of Discipline offers the description about the important role of the Superintendent; yes it is almost beyond words, both in purpose and detail.
To represent the Bishop and bring a holy greeting from our "encourager" is a vital task.
And yet humility is the key which still unlocks the door for ministry. It always has.
And so maybe that is one thing which does not change.
Like I always say, "Not everything changes."

The Purpose of Lent

2010-02-25T16:44:00.004-06:00

Could it be that many of us Christians accept the Christ into our lives, but not the new life Christ brings? Could it be that we make Christ a prisioner in our hearts, never releasing the fullness of the grace and glory? Could it be that being "born again" has more to do with our way of living and less to do with our outward confessions?

Perhaps Christ is always larger than we imagine or have room to accept. Perhaps as we grow in our love toward others Christ continues to enlarge as well. Perhaps we are never done growing and enlarging our hearts to contain the fullness Christ.

Maybe this is what the season of Lent it all about. Growing and allowing Christ to increase.

When Difficult Situations Arise…

2010-02-22T16:51:00.002-06:00

Seven of my thoughts I keep by my desk. Some days they can be a life saver.

1. Realize, this is not new, just the same old stuff in the world revisiting us. Do not flinch.

2. Consider that Now is required the utmost professionalism. We never gossip. We never talk outside this confidence about personal situations for which our position offers us access. Be careful with e-mail as it is easily misunderstood.

3. Recognize everyone involved will be a victim sooner or later. This includes the church. Consider the persons most at risk in this particular situation and what might be our best response for them. Pray for these persons and also the ones who may be the cause of much of the stress. Pray like God is our only hope.

4. Feel and Know the power of God at work and be assured the Holy Spirit will offer a path. That path may not always be happy or even pleasant, but will be life-giving for all who choose to travel the path.

5. Whatever the issue: this is not our problem to fix or solve by ourselves. Our task is to offer the compassion and understanding of the Christ into a broken world. Think Gardeners.

6. Jesus Always forgives repentance. 70 X 7

7. Notice how every point invites us to pause and think. Do not immediately react, think.

What is the big deal with Valentine’s Day?

2010-02-04T11:14:00.002-06:00

I am fortunate to have a wonderful valentine in my spouse. She loves to celebrate birthdays and holidays. Valentine’s Day is no exception. I have been trained well over the years to know how to think ahead and find something nice, something thoughtful, which cannot be purchased at a gas station. Yes, I tried that and it does not work. Anyway, this is a fun little holiday which is tailor made for couples like us who do not need a lot of fuss to care for one another. We make it fun and focus our attention on the other.
However, as I look around, I see a whole lot of folks for whom this quirky little holiday is anything but fun and easy. I see folks who are in the midst of grieving the loss of a loved one. I see folks who are waiting for Mr. or Ms. Right and the only people they seem to run into are Wrongs. I see folks who are in relationship, but just barely. And the stress, or pressure, from such a holiday as this drives a wedge further between their feelings of hope and despair. I wonder about this Valentine’s Day stuff and think about ways to change things up.
One thing we can all do is to stop and think for a moment about the lives of the people around us. The people we live with, work with, and play with. Why not include them in the celebration by dropping by with a card, or flipping a carton of candy hearts on to their desk. Ok, be careful to not go overboard and be miss-understood, but you can do this with an open heart and thoughtfulness. If a conversation about loneliness or brokenness opens between you, then you have an opportunity to share your faith in a graceful and hopeful manner. And if laughter breaks out then you have won a great battle. If you are gifted in return with an opportunity to just listen, you are most blessed.
Maybe the big deal about Valentines Day is not about love as much as it is about friendships and relationships. Maybe the day is less about a dozen roses costing eighty bucks to get me out of the doghouse for something stupid I did which I do not remember and more about the sweet taste of a heartfelt thank you or a simple nod of encouragement, Either way, in my experience, chocolate also works pretty good. Now if they only sold that at the gas station.

The Garbage Person

2010-01-05T17:36:00.001-06:00

Someone is designated as the “Garbage Person” in our Christmas celebrations. The task is simple, hold open a garbage sack and allow everyone to toss their wrappings into the bag. It keeps the mess in the room to a minimum and everyone has a little fun throwing wrapping paper garbage.
Just a minute before the paper was not garbage. Instead it was highly prized, yearned for, and waited upon. That which has become garbage was not the thing which was desired, yet it covered the very thing with celebration and joy. The wrapping has become garbage to us based on our need, or lack thereof.

Three things strike me about this whole Christmas garbage thing.
The first is a curious memory of my days before the “garbage person” when my grandmother would gently unwrap her gifts, fold and smooth the pretty paper, then save it for wrapping new gifts another year. In her quiet way, she found a gift even in the wrapping. Not only that, but she found a new year, another person, another Christmas in the paper. Nothing was overlooked, everything was sacred. I compare that to my childlike tearing away at the outside to find the inner “real” gift. How many times have I failed to see the gift within the gift? Can our garbage become more, even a blessing?

The second thought is the Christ as our garbage person. The incarnation of God in human flesh was for one purpose, to save us from our sin. The Messiah came to catch our garbage and is holding open the sack for us to throw all the stuff which blocks our path and clutters our world.
My friend Dean, who is the pastor of Glenwood Grace UMC, shared on January 3 the youth purposely filled the sanctuary with paper wrappings, garbage if you will. Then when it came time for Holy Communion everyone was asked to clean a place, a path of the garbage. Bring your garbage to Christ, even help clean the path for others, and then come and receive the free gift of life.

The third is to consider the Christ as the wrapping paper, the covering for a real gift of life. We may struggle when we see others throwing away the incarnation, the Christ child, wanting only the offered life of peace and joy. We feel the strong connection of the Easter passion week of knees bowing and gifts offered on Palm Sunday, while Friday finds the same crowds throwing away the Messiah.

It seems someone is always designated as the “garbage person” in our Christmas celebrations.

Winter Weather

2009-12-19T12:42:00.001-06:00

I am being reminded that winter weather is fun, fun, fun.

When I was a child I wondered why folks went south for the deep winter months. Why would they want to miss all this wonderful snow and cold weather? I was serious.

I enjoyed the crunch of new snow under foot, the flock of snow geese overhead, the tracks of rabbits over the snow drifts. I looked forward to shadowed evenings in the barns bedding the animals deep with new straw. I found pleasure in lighting a cowboy stock tank heater full of cobs and wood scraps with a little kerosene while pumping water by hand. The cattle were so appreciative with their frosty beards and eyebrows.

It was pure joy to fill the truck full of square bales and run out over the hills of new snow stringing out those bales on that clean stark white table to the following hungry cows. As we stopped to watch and count the herd, a couple of broken-in-half ears of corn went to last years 4-H heifer, still a pet, almost a nuisance.

Supper tasted good, what ever it was, after being out in the evening air taking care of God’s creatures. Double gloves, coveralls, wool hats with ear-flappers, and five buckle-overshoes with bread sacks for liners were standard equipment. So was a heart open to the wonder of God’s creation all around us.

Yes, even now surrounded by melting parking lots and slippery streets I am reminded that this winter weather can be fun if I take the time to see the beauty.

Letting Go

2009-10-15T13:32:00.002-05:00

Here is a very interesting quote from Richard Rohr’s book, “Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer” (Crossroad, 2003.) The idea of “letting go” is foundational. Of what are we willing to let go, so that it can be renewed, reborn?

“The last experience of God is frequently the greatest obstacle to the next experience of God. We make an absolute out of it and use it to strengthen our ego to self-aggrandize and self-congratulate. Then of course, nothing more happens. We need to be converted again and again. We aren’t born again. We are born again and again and again. Accepting and acting upon that principal takes a lot of letting go. If we aren’t willing to move out of our comfort zone, it won’t happen. All great spirituality is about letting go.”

Eulogy for CB Clark

2009-10-15T10:12:00.003-05:00

As a gift to the famliy, I wrote this eulogy for CB Clark on October 3, 2009. The Rev. David Kruse preached CB's funeral and used this piece as a witness.

CB Clark liked a straight row of fence posts.

CB’s farmland adjoined the farm where I grew up just north of Dexter. He had two places, one on the East side of the road where he fed some hogs and kept some machinery and the home place on the West side of the road. We could easily see and hear what was happening at the place on the East side across the road from the telephone building as it was only a short walk, 20 rods or so from our house. The home place was further north and stood on the South edge of the South Raccoon River valley and we seldom heard much from that distance. It was a quiet neighborhood with folks who knew each other and were friends, but pretty much did their own work.

My brother: Chuck, sister: Cathy and I rode the school bus with the Clark boys, Charlie and Rod. They were just a few years older and I looked up to them like one would look up to a younger uncle or older brother. That was a good and a bad thing. On the one hand it was great to have additional folks who could and would watch out for each other from the neighborhood, but I have to tell you that Rod and Charlie, especially Rodney, could get me laughing so hard that I could not breathe. He was the funniest guy I ever met.

We were in 4-H with Charlie, Rod, and most all the other kids from up and down that road: the Sanborn’s, Herring’s, Atherton’s, and the Weesner’s. One of our 4-H leaders was CB Clark. I remember CB yelling quite a bit at the meetings; usually to get Rod to sit down and be quiet because he had me, and a lot of others, laughing so hard I was ready to throw-up. That being said, I was kind of afraid of CB because it seemed to me that he yelled all the time.

It was on one of those days at the Dallas County Fair between the show and the sale when not much was happening. I was 12 or 13 years old, just a kid. I remember like it was yesterday. Our Union Pride township club calves were in the East Isle by the big open North doors of the barn. I was sitting on a show box by myself. CB Clark came wandering up the isle and sat down next to me. For the next 30 minutes we visited. We talked about the weather, the crops, the prices of corn, hogs, and cattle. We talked about normal stuff, nothing much important, just talked.

I doubt very much that CB ever gave a second thought about our conversation, but it was life changing for me and I consider it the day I grew up. In everyone’s life there is a time, an experience, which changes our path and further defines our lives. This was just such a day for me and I have pondered it time and again throughout my life.

This was the first time I can recall an adult outside of my family, ever looked at me with enough respect to ask a question and then listen for an answer. It was a simple thing, to sit and be in conversation with the young neighbor boy. I cannot offer a long list of profound examples of the triumphs of CB’s life other than this simple one that he made a difference in my life by his kindness and willingness to take seriously a conversation with me. However, just perhaps, that says it all. Without being too churchy, I would also add that this is how I have always envisioned Jesus visiting with folks; engaging, listening, responding.

And by way, I also noticed: Whenever CB made fence, the fence posts were always tall and straight. My love and respect to you, Charlie and Rod, on this day.
Amen.

Letter to Addilyn Grace - Born Oct 3, 2007

2009-09-10T11:00:00.003-05:00

“The River is Here”

The Revelation to John 22:1-7
Dave Weesner: Sermon Preached Salem UMC - Oct 14, 2007

My Dear Addi,
As I held you last Wednesday, just hours after you breathed your first breath, I decided then to share my heart with you through a letter; this letter. I plan to be around for many years to watch you grow into a beautiful young woman, full of love and yes, grace, just like your name.

However, these thoughts I share with you are important, and I do not want miss any opportunity to offer these gifts that I have learned throughout my lifetime. Like wading into the water of a flowing river these ideas will gain power for your life as you learn to trust the current and move further into the flow, finally finding yourself swimming without touching the bottom. Here Goes:

Obey Your Parents
They are the people who love you more than anyone on earth. I have known them for quite a while, and they can be trusted, especially where your well-being is concerned. They have and are sacrificing for you. Did you know you will cost your parents about a quarter of a million dollars to raise? They will not withhold one good thing from you that they believe you really need. Truth is, you will never know the extent of their sacrifice, but you will know their love. That is all I can ask.
So, Obey Your Parents

Honor Your Brother and Your Sister
Today, when I was with you, they would not stop kissing you. And they kissed you with such tenderness and concern, I was surprised at first and then moved to try and understand their love for you even at this young age. You see, you have done nothing for them, except give them someone to love. Maybe that is the best we can ever do in life, give ourselves to someone else openly and honestly, so they can love us. I think that is what God wants from us. So, Honor Your Brother and Your Sister

Do Not Whine
No person anywhere likes someone who whines. Whining ruins good friendships and is wearisome to God. A good rule to live by is: “Never Complain About What You Allow.” If you do not like something, change it. At the very least, do not put up with it and whine about it, as if you have no power to make change. You are a child of God and are able to accomplish far more than you can imagine. Nothing of value will ever be accomplished in your life by whining. So, Do Not Whine.

A Good Attitude Changes Everything
Smile every morning, be cheerful and greet those around you with joy and interest. Refresh your soul with a positive focus on everything that moves through your life. If you can practice this one little step of cheerfulness, you will live a life blessed with friends and good will.
The measure you give will be the measure you get in return. Yes, there will be days of pain and grief. You will lament many things over your lifetime, however the good, will far out weigh the bad, and you will find the world filled with wonderment; if only you will choose to smile and offer a cheerful greeting. It really is just that simple. So, Carry a Good Attitude, it Changes Everything.

Choose to Make a Difference in Another Persons Life
The saddest life is one lived for the self. Work to make a difference in another persons life and you will find fulfillment. This is the second great commandment from Jesus, “To love your neighbor as yourself.” It is not enough to have things and work to make a way in the world for ourselves. The real meaning of life is offered when we sacrifice for another so that their lives may be blessed. You will never find one truly great person in your whole life who did not sacrifice to make a difference in another persons life. Not One.
So, Choose to Make a Difference in Another Person’s Life.

Keep your mouth in your mind, not your mind in your mouth
Many people rattle on with words about nothing. Whatever is in their mind is in the same moment in their mouth and past their lips. They never consider a word before they speak, and in all honesty, they are thought of as fools. Rather, keep your mouth in your mind and consider your words before you speak. Do your words lift and inspire others, or do they tear down and degrade another? Do your words build unity or do they wound and separate? How you speak is just as important as what you speak. Measure your words carefully. Speak truth in all humbleness. So, Make your father proud, and your grandfathers smile, keep your mouth in your mind, not your mind in your mouth.

There is Enough Love for You
As the third child, sometimes you will feel as if you are left behind and maybe there is not enough love for you. Do not trust and believe these feelings. Love has no boundaries, like a river flowing which has no end. Trust me, you are loved regardless of what your sister and brother say or do. There is enough love for you.

Love God with All Your Heart, Mind, and Strength
Loving God is the key to a wonder-filled life. If you want to see miracles, love God. If you want to find blessing upon blessing, love God.

This is hard to do. We are all human with a wildness that wants to turn away from God. (Actually, we want to be God, and try to make our selves into God. But it never works.) We must learn to love God with all our heart. We choose to love God with our feelings, our heart. Much like we choose to love ice cream. Pretty soon it is not only what we like, but we crave God in our lives.

We must learn to love God with our mind. This means we need to study and learn all we can about ourselves and this mysterious God who created you and me. The more we learn the more we will love God and each other.

And we must learn to love God with our strength. It is hard to love God when the day is filled with pain or grief. And yet, that is probably the very day we will find God waiting to offer us our greatest insight or deepest season of peace. Be strong and learn to love God always.

Here is the other part of this same lesson. As you grow, you will need tore-consider your relationship with God. They way you love God you are five or seven or thirteen will not be the way you should love God when you are thirty or fifty. As you grow, so should your love of God and you will need to go deeper in your faith as you grow older. I see folks all the time who have quit growing in their faith. Many quit as a child, they still attend church, but they have not grown for years. This second part is as important as the fist or else you will end up hard and thorny like the stem of a rose branch that once held a glorious blossom.

There are so many things we will visit about as your life unfolds, these are just a little sample. Yet they are foundations, rocks along the river on which to warm yourself on a sunny autumn afternoon.

As you learn to accomplish these things, my child, you will learn to live fully and live well. You will find friends at every turn on days of sunshine and grace to fill your stormy days. You will learn to swim in the river of life and not just stand sadly on the river bank, never trusting enough to enter the water, never faithful enough to swim as the current begins to move your life forward. Live fully, live well.

One final request: Plan to meet me in heaven.
All your grandparents, Grandpa Kurt and Grandma Terri Jo, Grandma Cheryl and myself, have all made plans with Jesus to be present in His heavenly kingdom, and we want you to join us. We cannot make it happen for you, even as much as we would like. But we know you will get to choose, just like we have. And we want you to choose life and join us, just as we have chosen to join our parents and grandparents who have accepted Jesus Christ, and so it has gone for over 2000 years. And we want you to join us someday in that wonderful place.

Read aloud the first few verses of chapter 22 of The Revelation to John from the Bible. Consider how we can wade into the water of the river of life and let ourselves be carried by the current of the Spirit. Do not be afraid. The river is here and before you, even as you hear or read my words.

By faith, I am already there, even as I am still physically with you now. This is the mystery of God and the blessing of God’s grace. And that is the second name your parents have chosen for you; Grace it is, so Grace you will be.

Until I hold you again, Grandpa Dave.

Ragbrai – Take Me to the River

2009-08-04T19:05:00.005-05:00

I patiently waited my turn in line. Finally I was at the edge of the river and I positioned my bike, the old Trek, with both tires just into the water. Folks were laughing and snapping pictures, enjoying the moment. I was quiet, introspective, holding on to my emotions. Handful after handful of that Mississippi river water I lifted and carefully washed the frame of the bike which had so gallantly carried me from one river to the other. The top bar, the front forks, the rear chain stays all received a washing, almost a blessing as I mumbled under my breath once again, “ride your own ride,” and, “I can do all things through God who strengthens me.” I recalled the similar actions just days before on the bank of the Missouri, the other river. That day I was alone and quiet, but expectant. This day I also felt quite alone, but was jostled and pushed by a huge crowd. I was again reminded being alone is a feeling, not a literal reality. I kept my sunglasses on.

Then I quickly rose as my turn at the river was completed and I walked the bike up through a waiting crowd. I did not look up, rather kept my head down and moving toward the top of the ramp. Without thinking I moved to a place on the rocks next to the river just downstream. There I dropped the bike and sat on the rocks while I wept for some time. It just came out of me, the emotion, the feelings, I could no longer contain.

My thoughts centered to the sacrifice which allowed this bicycle adventure to be competed. Yes, I trained and put my body through some difficult, even painful days. But my sacrifice was not on my mind, mine seemed the easy part. My thoughts were to the sacrifice of those who rode with me; or more clearly, the sacrifice of those whom I carried in my heart across the state of Iowa. I carried my wife, who cried as I prepared to leave, making me promise to be safe. I carried my family; my sons and their wives and their children. I realized how much I missed them. As a witness to my family I wore tie-dyed shirts from Molly and Ellie. Daily those shirts reminded me of family. I carried my church staff, who are never far from my mind or my heart. I carried my training partners who instructed me and pushed me to go further, farther, faster than I would have on my own. And in my heart, I carried a couple persons who could not ride. Particularly, I carried Bruce Bryant whose tragic bicycle accident last 4th of July changed us all. I carried Bruce with me down every hill. I also carried Randy Osborn whose ongoing battle against cancer inspires me and offered me hope to gain the top of every hill.

It was crowded on the rocks along the riverbank as I sat and wept. Oh, I was all alone, as even the one fellow standing behind me moved along when I began to cry. However, I was in the midst of all these precious ones whom I carried with me, first as I invested mile after mile in training, and finally on the trip across the state itself. As I unpacked my emotional baggage along the river that day, not surprisingly, I also found a familiar small still voice speaking to me. “You are never alone David, I am with you always.” As the tears fell, I offered this simple prayer, “Thank you Lord. I know it, Thank you.”

I rode every mile, climbed every hill. Slept in a tent and showered from a bag. This was glorious and I was never really alone.

After I sat for a while, I went exploring and found our team truck. It was then that the leader of our charter asked if I had any pictures taken by the river. And so I lifted the bike above my head in fine Ragbrai fashion.

Enough

2009-07-13T17:10:00.003-05:00

Within the sacred text
We scour to find grain.
The potential for life, sustained, renewed.
And we find grass and weeds
Enough to choke an ox.

We seek the seed to plant
So the harvest comes full.
Our anger rises
As we find only fodder
And it still green and growing.
Where is the grain;
Enough to serve and plant?

Finally we lay our bodies in the dewy carpet
Exhausted from the empty search.

Perhaps only then shall we find
The grain is in the head
The head is on the grass
The grass is at our hand.
Enough to fill a dream.

All is well, all is well.

- D. A. Weesner

Middle of the Road

2009-06-22T16:46:00.002-05:00

The middle of the road is a safe place. I find when I get too far to the right or too far to the left I can easily slip into the ditch. And then I am not going anywhere. The middle of the road is not always popular or in style, but it does keep one moving forward.

There are a whole lot of folks who live in the middle of the road. They just go to work and do thier job, no big drama, just keep things moving. Perhaps they are the real heros in life, instead of the guy on the TV news who rides a lawn chair hooked onto hot air ballons over the city. Seems many times people in the ditch or even the ones who ride the edge of the road are lifted up as special. Different yes, special no.

Give me a mom working two jobs with barely enough time to get her hair done, or see the children's school program; now there is someone special. We will never see her on the TV news. Give me a man who invests his time keeping the water running for an entire town; late nights, early mornings, working holidays. His name will not be in the running for volunteer of the year, but it ought to be lifted up somewhere.

So I guess the middle of the road is my place. It may look boring, slow paced, and without fanfare. I am good with that, as looks don't really mean very much to people who have been around. What matters is keeping things moving. That is the secret to the middle of the road. And by the way, even a Seven-lane freeway has a middle lane.

A Word on Immortality

2009-05-27T16:21:00.000-05:00

Have we confused immortality with resurrection? Samuel Clemmons was quoted as saying, “The news of my death has been greatly exaggerated.” Of course he was responding to a newspaper account that he had died. How curious it would be to see our own obituary in the press. Interestingly, this is not at all unlike Clemons’s fictional character of Huck Fin who faked his own death and attended his own funeral.

I wonder if the news of our lives may have also suffered the same illness as Clemons’s death of having been greatly exaggerated. Our culture seems to expect, even demand, a reality of immortality apart from any relationship with God. To be immortal is to stand over and above the trials of time and history. The immortal human life transcends all earthly powers and, if we are honest, perhaps even God. I find many funerals primarily concerned with offering a sense of human immortality, a kind of disembodiment of the Spirit, rather than sharing the reality of physical death and resurrection as offered through Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15 offers, “We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed…the mortal puts on immortality…” The mortal life here celebrated is the created life, both physical and spiritual, even in a fallen and sinful state. The immortal life being “put on” by the change of accepting new life in Christ is also both physical and spiritual. The immortality of Jesus Christ is accepted and appropriated during the change. Simply put, our immortality is the resurrection immortality of our God. Note the key operative here is God. Without God we are left with good deeds and kind words offering a kind of temporary buffer against meaninglessness. However we are also without real power to hold back the dark night of the soul. Neither are we able to consistently view and understand the body and soul as still together in one package, one person.

Resurrection offers both the immortality of God and the final oneness of Body and Spirit. This is the final resolution and wholeness we seek. Here, in resurrection, we find true immortality of both body and soul.

Notes for Sunday May 31, 2009

2009-05-21T13:37:00.000-05:00

Read: Acts 2:1-12 Pentecost

What do we really know about the Holy Spirit? Maybe the best we can ever know is the feelings we have when the Spirit wants to be known to us. The Spirit goes where and how it wants. The best we can do is open our lives to be a living vessel into which the Holy Spirit may be poured. We invite our lives to be filled with the Holy Ghost.

Most days we go through the motions of work, eat, play, and sleep. We may even find some of our activities enjoyable, but much of the time is spent simply breathing. However every once a while a very special day comes along which lifts us and moves our hearts. We may feel empowered to say and do giant things for God. We may feel prayerful and deeply connected with our neighbors. We may even fall to our faces in honor and praise of our God.

Consider the most special of all those special days over the course of the history of the world. For those who follow Jesus Christ, that day is Pentecost. This was the day when the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, cut loose and filled the believers to overflowing with Spiritual fruits. Everything was in process, anything was possible, and nothing was out of the question.

We in the church like to celebrate Pentecost much like we celebrate a birthday or a holiday. We may pause to remember, sigh, eat some cake, and go home pretty much like we came. But that was never the intent in Pentecost, not then, not now. After all they were people just like us.

What do you have in process? What do you find impossible? What have you been told is out of the question?
Now we are talking; a little Holy Ghost action. Oh, Yeah! Come Holy Spirit, be our guest.

Scripture: Acts 2:1-12
Sermon: “People Just Like Us”

100 Books

2009-05-13T17:27:00.002-05:00

A fellow shared a while back that his library was only 100 books. If he purchased a new book for his shelves, then one had to go. That got me thinking and looking at my library. What 100 books would I keep and which would I let go? What do you think might be the best 100 books for a pastor's library?

Some of my favorites I would ahve to keep (not including my Bibles) are:
A History of the Christian Church, Walker
Homiletic, Buttrick
The Moral Vision of the New Testament, Hays
The UMC Book of Worship
The UMC Hymnal
John Wesley's Sermons, Outler
Generation to Generation, Friedman
Theology of the Old Testament, Brueggemann
Servant Leadership, Greenleaf
The Nature and Destiny of Man, Niebuhr

Notes for Sunday May 24, 2009

2009-05-13T16:50:00.001-05:00

Read: Luke 24:44-53 Ascension Sunday

I trust you all had a wonderful Easter celebration and are enjoying the spring weather I am sending you. I am encouraged by all I see happening among you in my name.

I thought a little update since I last wrote you might be in order:

Since the ascension I have been hanging out here with the Father doing a lot of remedial kind of work. As much as you may think there has been a lot of water under the bridge, and things have changed, I have to say most of that change is on your side of the river. Here in heaven it is pretty much business as usual and overall business has been good.

I know that I left you all in a pretty big hurry and some of you are still hurting about the fact that I cannot be physically with you all the time. I am, however, with you in Spirit which is perhaps an even a better thing for all of us in the long run. In the short term consider ways we can be in communication throughout every day. I am really open to visiting with you when ever you have time.

Most of my time here is currently taken up with worship. As I think about it, worship has taken up most of the last 2000 years. We have had some excellent times of powerful worship. Sometimes I even get to singing and waving my hands in the air to join in the chorus. But that is for another day.

Right now I want to share that you are my hands and feet. Your willingness to reach out to the people in your neighborhood is quite important. Please know that I will go with you and even speak a quiet word to you about where to go and how to speak. I want the best for you, but also for the others who do not yet know me. I know this may leave you feeling stuck in the middle, but this was the plan I was given by the Father, and it has worked out good so far with many others before you.

The future is not to be revealed to you, but if you could see what I see for the future, you would follow with all your heart. Do not be scared by this; because nothing can harm you while you are with me and I am with you. Thanks again for all you are doing. Hold me in prayer as I hold you.

Jesus.

Scripture: Luke 24:44-53
Sermon: “Mixed Feelings”

Notes for Sunday May 17, 2009

2009-05-06T17:04:00.001-05:00

Read: Psalm 98, Acts 10:44-48, 1 John 5:1-6, John 15:9-17 Easter Six

“Abide in my love.” One of the last things Jesus offered to the disciples before his death was this command to abide. The word abide can be defined: to wait patiently. Abide can also be defined: to remain or dwell, in other words, to stay put. To wait patiently for Christ’s love is a wonderful idea, nice to offer, but hard to accomplish. Most days we are anything but patiently waiting. Rush, rush, rush.

How lovely to linger in the path of the love of God. I like the idea of dwelling in Christ’s love. To remain, as if I already have that love about me, I dwell richly; I stay put in the midst of grace offering life. What if … I was able to live my life in the midst of a constant experience of God’s love? What if … we as a church we willing to stay put in the midst and not allow our minds or our tongues to wander or wag causing divisions and hardships in our relationships? That would be something to behold. I believe it is possible, yet not easy. Abiding is not our thing. But Christ helps us again.

The next verse (vs. 10) offers Christ abiding in the love of the Father. As we abide in Christ, so Christ abides in the Father, therefore we have direct access to the Father through the Son, or along with the Son. “Where I am, there you will be also,” Jesus said to the disciples just a few verses before this passage. Fear not, my sisters and brothers in Christ; Abide.

Scripture: John 15:9-17
Sermon: “What If …”

Notes for Sunday May 10, 2009

2009-04-27T16:38:00.000-05:00

Read: Psalm 22:25-31, Acts 8:26-40, 1 John 4:7-21, John 15:1-8 Easter Five

Pruning sounds harsh. In fact, it is harsh. Take the plant by the hand, reaching into the inner crown, finding a fork of a branch, and cutting away the longer, larger of the two branches. Make the cut with sharp, clean pruning shears large and powerful enough to make the cut with grace and efficiency.

Pruning opens the plant to allow light and air to penetrate and circulate properly. Pruning encourages new growth and proper fruit setting. A properly pruned plant will look natural, not scalped, not mowed.

Keep in mind pruning is NOT a size control. If you need to prune to reduce the overall size of the plant or to reduce the impact of the plant upon its neighbors, then you have the wrong plant growing in this particular place. Proper planting leads to proper pruning. Never substitute a poor planting choice with abusive pruning.

The goal in pruning should never be to control size; rather the goal is to maximize fruitfulness. Unfortunately pruning in order to control size is the rule we have all learned to accept as valid, even while it has never been particularly effective. Just like the guy who mows the grass at one inch of height, verses a healthy height of 3-4 inches. He has just caused more problems for himself by this behavior, but the grass is much shorter and he does not have to worry about it for another week or so. However, later in the summer he will stop and wonder why his yard looks sick compared to a neighbor. So it goes with pruning, slowing down and taking your time is your long-term friend.

The key to pruning is to remember the goal. If your goal is to make the plant shorter, smaller, less productive, stunted, looking something like a poodle just home from the groomer, then get out there with the power shears and go at it in 20 minutes. However, it your goal is to encourage the plants natural DNA, the God given structure and capability, to encourage the natural shape and flowering, if you are hoping to reach the maximum potential for fruit bearing, then you will prune carefully with wisdom and thought. You will secure the proper tools and take the time to see clearly the potential risk and benefit of each cut.

Then, the harshness of the cut can make sense and offer hope. The pruning, even while painful, can be life-affirming and life-giving. May it be so.

Scripture: John 15:1-8
Sermon: “The Pruned Life”

Notes for Sunday April 05, 2009

2009-03-25T16:19:00.001-05:00

Read: Isaiah 50:4-9a, Philippians 2:5-11, Mark 14-15 Passionate Trust

“Can God be trusted?” continues as my primary ministry question. Boil it all down, all the talk and all the speculation and we are left with this one simple question. Can we trust a God who feels distant? Can we trust a God who allows my neighbor’s cancer or her daughter being run over by a drunk driver? Can we trust a God who creates a world where millions suffer in poverty without daily water or food; while a comparative few worry if their lifestyle will have to suffer because of a downturn in their massive wealth? Can we trust a God who allows a world to be more concerned with a pet’s food preferences than its own children’s future? Can we trust you God when we lose our job, lose our sanity, or lose our life?

Lately, I have been responding to a lot of questions with, “The proof is in the pudding.” We can say we trust God; however, our actions will be the proof of our willingness to trust God. How we respond to the trials and events in our life displays our trust. It is not the events or trials in themselves; rather it is always our reaction to those events which reveals the focus of our trust.

Now listen to this, if we trust is not the question. We all trust in something, someone. To trust is to breath, to have being. Trust is the human experience. However, where we place our trust is up for grabs. Should trust be placed in ones ability, or wealth, or appearance, or spouse, or children? In what, or whom, do we trust? And just how is that trust moved from one place to another? Does trust move quickly in a shock and awe move, or does trust take some time to shake and bake? Both seem possible. Both are within our experience.

Our actions display the focus of our trust, even the level or intensity of our trust. Who or what we trust is a choice. We see Jesus on the cross and realize his trust in the Father calls out for our lives to follow. Can God be trusted?

Scripture: Mark 15:1-39
Sermon: “Trust, not Rust”

A Fable: The Little Girl who Lived in a Tree

2009-03-11T11:35:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time there was a little girl who lived in a tree in the midst of the forest. Every morning she counted every single leaf on the whole tree. And every afternoon she fed the birds who also made the tree their home. She was a very thoughtful little girl.

One day in the early spring of the year, a great storm came by and the wind blew upon the tree. The wind caused many leaves to fall and the little girl was very busy trying to keep track of all the leaves. She felt overwhelmed with her inability to keep the leaves on the beloved tree.

Then the wind blew even more and one of the twelve birds nests fell out of the tree, and then another. After that great wind, only one of the bird’s nests was left in the tree. The little girl mourned the loss of the nests, as she loved the tree with birds singing.

The storm was still raging however, and one strong wind gust after another began to break some of the branches from the tree. In horror she witnessed her own branch, her home, crack and break and fall to the ground without pomp or ceremony. At first she was confused; then she became angry. She cried out to the storm, “Why are you so mean? Don’t you care what happens to the tree?”

When the storm ended, the birds, even the ones who had lost their nests, began to sit in the braches of the tree and sing.

The little girl calmly collected her things and walked off into the forest to find a new tree.

Questions:
• Do you mostly indentify with the little girl, the birds, or the tree? Why.
• Who do you indentify as the wind in this story?
• What is important about this being an, “early spring” story?
• Why was the little girl feeling overwhelmed?
• What purpose did counting the leaves have in the story?
• With what did the little girl feed the birds?
• Why did the little girl walk to find a new tree?

A Fable: The Old Man and the Bridge

2009-03-03T16:09:00.001-06:00

Once upon a time there was an old man who lived on the hill just above the railroad tracks on the edge of a village. Within sight of his house was the railroad bridge over a small creek which ran alongside the town.

Now the railroad was busy with passenger and fast freight trains coming through the gap in the mountains to the West and running East toward the large cities along the ocean. The old man lived alone with nothing much to do except watch the trains.

On this particular day, as would sometimes happen, a group of children from the village came up the hill walking in the creek and began playing on the railroad bridge. The old man watched as they climbed on the timber supports and walked the rails and ties of the bridge. Finally, he could not bear to watch the children on the bridge any longer. So he came down the slope to the bridge and with a big voice told the children to stop playing on the bridge and go home.

The children were frightened by the look and tone of the old man. However, as they left the bridge, they threw rocks from the creek at the old man and yelled things they had heard their parents say when they were angry. Not long after the children left the bridge and were heading back to town a fast freight train rumbled through the gap in the mountains crossed the bridge and headed down to the cities along the ocean.

Later that day, as families gathered to share their evening meal, the children told the story of the gruff old man who lived on the hill above the railroad tracks. They mimicked his big deep voice telling the children to, “get off the bridge and go home to play.” The parents of the children all shook their heads and commented how something needed to be done to protect their children from such a man. Silently they vowed to spurn the old man for being so hard and uncaring.

Questions for Pondering
1. Why did the old man chase the children from the bridge?

2. How should the parents of the children react to the old man?

3. Did anyone on the trains know or even care about the situation?

4. Where do you see yourself in the fable? Which of the characters are you today?

5. Tell about a similar experience to “The Old man and the Bridge” in your lifetime?

Now you finish the fable using these starters:
1. One spring day a new family moved into a home just below the tracks and brought a plate of warm cookies to the old man who…
2. The old man died later that year and three weeks after his death the children were once again playing on the railroad bridge when …
3. And so it went for many years with the old man at odds with the village when one day a visitor came to town and …
4. Over the next couple of years the train tracks were abandoned by the railroad and a bicycle path was established. The old man found …
5. That year In the middle of winter, the old man died. When the people from the village came to clean out the house above the tracks, to their amazement they found …

Notes for Sunday March 15, 2009

2009-03-03T16:08:00.001-06:00

Read: Exodus 20:1-17, 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, John 2:13-22 Community Marks

Every town in Iowa seems to have a town sign. Many of them have a town slogan which goes along with the sign. Minburn, Iowa calls itself, “The Little Town with the Big Heart.” My home town of Dexter, Iowa has the slogan, “A One Horse Town.” (Dexter was named after a famous race horse from 150 years ago.) One of my favorites is the town of Stuart, Iowa which has on their sign the slogan, “1000 Good Eggs and a Few Stinkers.” Slogans mark the towns and people take pride in the marks of their particular place or family.

Our Christian heritage is no different. We have marks and slogans with which define us. These marks offer others a glimpse of our focus and mission. Beginning with Father Abraham, the Jewish people were marked by circumcision. Moses offered the marks of the Ten Commandments as a way of life which was strange and different from the prevailing culture. Jesus turned over the tables of the money changers in the temple as a witness to a new lifestyle mark of his life and those who would be his disciples. The Apostle Paul shared with the early Christian church in Corinth the marks of God’s wisdom which appeared as foolishness to many. He argued for the courage of the people to let go of the marks of the world and cling to the salvation of the cross.

Today we carry many marks on our bodies and our lives. We are defined by those marks. Or even more important, we define the world around us from within the context of these same marks. Married or single, childless or large family, working or retired, young or old, healthy or battling illness, we all have marks and live within the space these defining marks provide. Most important are our marks as disciples. These are radical love, justice, hospitality, grace, and peace. If you were a small town what would be your slogan, your mark for the world to see?

Scripture: John 2:13-22
Sermon: “Community Marks”

Notes for Sunday March 08, 2009

2009-02-26T17:56:00.000-06:00

Read: Genesis 17:1-7, Romans 4:13-25, Mark 8:31-38 Following Calls

One of the best things about living here by the church for the past nine years has been the birds. As spring approaches the Cardinals begin calling to one another from the tops of all these beautiful pines. Cheryl and I have found there are at least three sets of Cardinals who live here year around. But it is at this particular time each year that they seem to become more vocal in their calling to one another. We enjoy hearing them calling back and forth from the church to the parsonages, then back to the church. It is like music from heaven to us.

When I was a child my father used to call the cows to follow as he would feed or water them. I remember that try as I might, they would only look at me. The cows did not know my voice as one to be trusted or one who would supply their needs. Dad used to laugh and tell me that as I became older they would recognize my voice and follow. He was right.

God has called to people from the beginning of time. I like to imagine it is much like our use of cell phones today. Some of us answer every call, while others look to see who it is before we answer, a few walk around with the phone turned off, life is all “voice mail” to these individuals. How is God calling you? Do you know God’s voice? How have you responded?

One day this week I was rushing from the parsonage to the church, with my mind going a hundred miles an hour, when I stopped in the middle of the parking lot. All of a sudden it occurred to me the birds were singing.

Scripture: Mark 8:31-38
Sermon: “Following Calls”

A Word on Dealing with Stalking

2009-02-19T10:55:00.004-06:00

Afer reading a bit from two books from the Public library and speaking to some professionals who counsel folks dealing with stalking, here is a list of ten things you should know in relationship to this issue. The main idea I learned is that the person being stalked has to change thier behavior, because the stalker never will. Unfair as it seems that is the bottom line, your life has to change to make change in the other persons life. Ouch. Now for the additonal list of ten:

1. You have a right to defend yourself
2. You have a right to be protected
3. Go to the school, go to the police, report the situation.
4. There must be accountability in every single case, Every single contact must be reported and it must documented that you reported.
5. If you are a student, have the school mediate with the other parents
6. Change your cell phone #, and no sleeping with the cell phone turned on.
7. You must be accompanied at all times. You should not be going anywhere by your self at any time. To do so is to invite problems and escalate the issue.
8. Need to be aware this could escalate into violence very quickly
9. Make sure your school documents meetings and situations.
10. Let your no be no. Only tell the person "no" one time, then have no contact of any kind, if you do respond after saying no they will think you have changed your mind, that there is a chance afer all, or that you are simply weak and can be controled.

Notes for Sunday March 01, 2009

2009-02-19T10:39:00.001-06:00

Read: Genesis 9:8-17, 1 Peter 3:18-22, Mark 1:9-15 Water Words

Water is life. Even more than the air we breathe, or soil we walk upon, water is the primary life supplier. We know there is life without air, such as anaerobic bacteria, however we cannot find life without water. We can find life without soil, such as the water-born protozoa, but water always is involved with life in one of its physical forms of vapor, liquid, or a solid. Water is the essential building block, the foundation of life.

The human body is 65% water. We must take in 80 oz. of water a day, about 2/3 of a gallon, just to maintain that percentage. As my body came into being it took on water. At death my body will dry out, lose its water, and once again become the same “wetness” as the rest of the world. So in an almost strange primordial metaphor, water can be understood to offer life. While we are physically alive our bodies contain significantly more water than the world around us. Without life, our bodies are similar in dryness to the surroundings.

So it is with our spiritual life. As we gain Jesus Christ we become alive in that spirit. The sacrament of baptism uses water at the metaphor to offer this hope. Through the application of water, the spiritual body becomes alive. Without the life of the spirit we remain separated from our own potential. We live spiritually on the same level with the world around us, experiencing no greater power, offering no greater sacrifice.

To hydrate our lives we look to the means of grace such as the sacraments, scripture, friendship, and prayer. Our ordinary lives become extraordinary with the addition of the water of the spirit. Our goal in these 40 days of Lent is to drink in the water of life and allow God to once again give spiritual life to our mortal bodies.

Scripture: Mark 1:9-15
Sermon: “Water Words”

Notes for Sunday February 22, 2009

2009-02-12T13:04:00.001-06:00

Read: Mark 9 & 2 Corinthians 4 The Transfiguration

All our lives we watch things grow. Here in Iowa, we grow things in the midst of the most fertile soil in the world. Our culture is based on growing things. For instance, we have weddings in June because that is when the crops need the least attention through their growing season. Our lives economically depend upon growing. Agriculture is our base, it is our economic rock. We suffer when things do not grow, or are stunted in their growth.

We watch our families grow. The little ones become classmates, who grow into work-mates, who find life-mates, who offer the whole cycle over again.

Growth is a faith journey of maturity and transformation from what was into what will be. This change is ongoing and active. The final stages of growth always rightly produces fruit, or perhaps more profound, seed for another season.

Jesus experienced the transfiguration as a prelude to the fruitfulness that was to follow the growth of the disciples in the church. Even today our lives are changed, transfigured, into something beautiful as we witness the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Growth, change, transfiguration can be hard and painful. The lack of growth however, is a morbid and dying process which will never offer reproduction or find fulfillment. Trust in God. Cling to Jesus. Embrace the Spirit. There is the good news, especially in the midst of growing things.

Scripture: Mark 9:2-9
Sermon: “Change is All Around Us”

Notes for Sunday February 15, 2009

2009-02-04T12:09:00.000-06:00

Read: Mark 1 Jesus Heals a Man with Leprosy

Everyone wants to be loved. Some want the giddy, walking on clouds feelings, new found love offers. Some want the attention toward ourselves which being loved may offer. Still others seek the simple touch and physical contact love offers. As we mature, we seek mature love; something we call “true love.”

True love is comfortable with ourselves and seeks to be in relationship in order to offer grace to the other. True love is outward love, offering the very best of self, and accepting the best of the other without placing requirements or demanding expectations. True love lives best within the rhythm of an ongoing committed relationship. My reading of scripture offers true love as built upon the foundation of sacrifice. That is also my personal experience. Show me sacrifice and I will show you true love.

Feelings are natural when love is experienced. However the feelings of true love may be deceiving to some because it is comfortableness, a security, a pleasure which is deeper than the initial flame of infatuation. The movies rarely come close to exposing true love. Most movies seem to be focused on the love of self; getting my pleasure at any cost to anyone else. Unfortunately these stories can be compelling and we may begin to believe in a world where my needs should come before anything or anyone else. Love suffers in that soil.

True love is for a life time and beyond. The apostle Paul says, “Love never ends.” We do not hold tomorrow within our grasp, but we do have today. And tomorrow will be a reflection of our action today. I say Jesus offers true love to the man with leprosy. Our task is to reflect that love. And everybody wants to be loved.

Scripture: Mark 1:40-45
Sermon: “True Love”

Notes for Sunday January 25, 2009

2009-01-15T14:32:00.000-06:00

Read: Mark 1:14-20
Jesus is sent into the wilderness and calls the disciples in this passage. Why is it that a wilderness experience leaves us focused and ready to gather others and move forward on the big project? While we are in the wilderness all we can think about is what we are missing. When we get out of the wilderness we realize we are now tougher, more prepared, and ready to take on that beast of a thing which has been dogging us for some time. What do you see Jesus doing in this passage?
Scripture: Mark 1:14-20
Sermon: A Failure of Nerve

Writings for Sunday January 11, 2009

2009-01-06T16:22:00.001-06:00

Read: Mark 1 The Baptism of the Lord

We are overwhelmed with causes and positions which stand against something or someone. Everyone seems to have an axe to grind about some particular issue, be it political, financial, or moral. Some people have more than one hot button issue. They can go off about just about anything at anytime. I am struggling to not place an example here, because it could very well be your pet project to speak out against. We are busy to death being against stuff, and I am against being against stuff. And here is the catch: The more I try to be against something or someone, the more I end up acting and looking just like the person or cause I oppose.

John the Baptist was against the political and cultural system of his day. Look at the way he dressed and lived. He said Jesus was coming to change everything. But John seems to misunderstand how Jesus would go about this work. What do you oppose? What frightens you about change?

Jesus comes to stand with, not to oppose. He submits to John’s baptism (which he surely does not need.) He stands with the people who are struggling to get life together. Watch and see how Jesus does not oppose people but goes with them, stands with them. Even to the cross of death, he does not oppose those who would kill him. He submits to their behavior and foul ways, knowing that faith and love will win the day, if only he can be faithful to the Father. Strange are the ways of Jesus.

I think Jesus did not come to maintain the status quo and keep people comfortable and secure in their own ways. Jesus came to transform life into something radically different; a non-violent life which stands together with the lowly, lost, and the offender and offers peace. And he did this work by standing with, not in opposition.

A Christmas Eve Prayer 2008

2008-12-24T15:30:00.000-06:00

Lord of all lands and peoples,
We gather here to pauses and reflect on your nature, your goodness.

Our agenda feels barren of goodness,
And your agenda, dripping like chocolate, is rich and pleasing.

We admit, O Lord, the essence of our lives cannot be purchased in any store.
We do admit our continuing attempt to purchase life.
Only to, once more, experience the emptiness that our love for lavish gifts offers.

Dear Jesus of the lowly manger, give us ears to listen to the music of the falling snow,
Give us eyes to see the majesty in creation as you have created all things and called them good.
Give us noses to smell the presence of the Spirit moving in our days.
Give us hearts to feel the pain of sin and the joy of new life in and around us.

Let our hands move to receive you and then offer peace.
Let our feet run to you in the breathless passion of the shepherds.
Let our mouths speak of love, as even the words we speak become tools of reconciliation.

This night, Father, allow us to share what we have experienced of you,
Allow us to remember your ways as higher than our own,
Allow us to sing your carols of gladness and praise.

May you hold your people from all lands in your care
as you breath upon us once more your words of life.

As we together recall the words of prayer you taught us to pray saying:

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done, on earth as it is on heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory, forever.
Amen.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T14:56:00.002-06:00

My prayer is that you all will have a grace and peace filled day with our Lord.

Notes for Sunday January 04, 2009

2008-12-24T13:47:00.001-06:00

Read: Ephesians 1

Christmas has been described as a “one size fits all” holiday. Today we make Christmas be whatever we need it to be at the moment. And frankly Christmas is quite athletic, in that it can do many things and change plans on the go to accommodate the needs of a particular situation.

The Apostle Paul seems to not have heard about our modern idea of Christmas and the many ways we can make it change to meet our needs. He had only one focus, one message. His letter to the church in Ephesus outlines that message.
1. We are destined for adoption as his children.
2. In Christ, we have obtained an inheritance.
3. Believers are marked with a seal of the promised Holy Spirit.

Try as we might to change the message of the season to meet our needs at the moment, isn’t this word from Paul the real message of the season? I think so. I like to think of it like a “magic marker.”

Worship Next Week
Scripture: Ephesians 1:3-14
Sermon Title: “Magic Marker”

Notes for Sunday December 28, 2008

2008-12-18T15:05:00.000-06:00

Read: Luke 2

Has Christmas grown larger than Jesus? Is it possible for Christmas to grow beyond the savior’s birth? Were we to reinvent Christmas, would we cause the thing to look and act like it does today? How would we change Christmas? What parts or pieces would we keep and hold in high esteem in secure places? And what would be thrown out, to be trod upon underfoot, lost forever in the midst of a world hungry for more?

Wow, all I wanted to do was have a nice easy little sermon this week. A sermon we can rest our weary souls upon. I was looking for a sermon to cheer us as we have sought new life in the midst of the hustle of the season. I was looking for a sermon to offer grace in the midst of ungrateful grabbing. I titled the sermon, “Surviving Christmas.” Some years, and for some it is every year, mere survival is our goal through the season.

I want to take a surprising look at Christmas. December 28 will put us right in the midst of the Christmas season. Our anxiety and depression surrounding the season is almost always found leading into the season, not the season it’s self. We worry about a multitude of possible things which never happen. They concern us far more, take far too much of our energy and resources, than the real possibilities for life knocking on our doors.

Can we laugh at ourselves and those around us? Can we find new life by taking a fresh look, even a humorous look at the story following Jesus birth? I would keep joy and laughter in Christmas. I will try.

Worship Next Week
Scripture: Luke 2:22-40
Sermon Title: “Surviving Christmas”

Notes for Sunday December 21, 2008

2008-12-09T14:04:00.003-06:00

Read: Luke 1

A person said to me the other day, “the devil is in the details.” It is a common way of sharing feelings of uncertainty and disorder in the world around us. Being a big picture guy, I often struggle with details. If you are like me you simply want to move forward and not hassle with the fine print. I get bogged down, feeling like I am just hacking my way through the rain-forest of life. Fine motor skills were never given high marks on my report card.

The other side of the same coin reflects those who not only enjoy, but encourage interaction with the details of life. These folks are wonderfully made to work within a project, moving with the moments of a season. They reflect the fullness of God in the handiwork of God’s glory. As much as I struggle with the details, these persons soar in the same environment and it is beautiful to watch.

God is surely in the midst of the details, not the devil. For I find that when I am willing to let go of my fear and need to control the details of the environment around me, I experience God. Over and over my experience of Christmas has been one of God’s in-breaking through or even over the top of the mountain of details to offer peace, grace, and hope.

I pray this is also your experience of Christmas. Not so much one of a baby in a manger, but of a risen Christ who calms the wind and waves. Not so much of a present colorfully wrapped under a green tree, but of a sense of belonging and hopeful anticipation for God’s reign on earth to reclaim all that is born of the darkness. After all, God is in all the details.

Here are my sermon points for next Sunday based on writing by B.W. Johnson, 1891:
"In the angel's message we have, (1) An assurance, Fear not. (2) A promise, Thou shalt bring forth a son. (3) A command, Thou shalt call his name Jesus. (4) A prophecy, He shall be great, the Son of the Highest, sit on David's throne, reign forever."

Worship Next Week
Scripture: Luke 1:26-38
Sermon Title: “God is in the Details”

Remembering

2008-12-04T14:55:00.001-06:00

Remembering always offers hope.

The Light Has Passed

2008-12-04T14:40:00.004-06:00

The light has passsed
into the night of tomorrow
into the fragrance of flowers
into the day of dreams
without a smile or good word
for the light has a mission
to return another day.

The light has passed
I gave my time away
even in the darkness now
I never will forget
for my eyes betray my steps.

The light has passed
with the first snowfall
The light has passed
on a cold November evening
to return at winter's ending.

-D.A. Weesner

Oddly Betrayed

2008-12-04T14:24:00.002-06:00

Isn’t this what the people wanted
all hope and truth and revelation?
Yet the longer the gift becomes given
the receptions grows less than warm.

Seems the arrival of something new and unexpected,
something long hoped for,
more than we have prayed, longed,
wanted for our children or neighbors
has led to disillusionment, unsettled lives,
and a feeling of broken trusts.

Is it always like this?
It is always like this!

The gift, more than our wildest,
presents us with more issues, reveals our humanness.
We stumble under the weight,
it is too much for us,
we are not worthy,
we are not ready
we are just not.

Strange the response …

We feel oddly betrayed
the Giver feels oddly betrayed
the Gift is oddly betrayed.

- D.A. Weesner

Sermon Notes for Sunday December 14, 2008

2008-12-04T14:23:00.000-06:00

Read: 1 Thessalonians

Rejoice always is the word from Paul to the early church. What is happening does not matter. If your life is wonderful or difficult, rejoice. Rejoicing comes along with sharing. I can not recall experiencing a time of sharing without some rejoicing along side. Advent should be the easiest time to rejoice as we prepare our hearts for the birth of Christ.

There are however two places of rub as I see it. The first is that we are not called to be happy Christians, rather ones who rejoice. There is a difference here and it is not particularly subtle. As you have been around me you have probably heard my rant about Christmas smiles and happiness that is so false it could be scrapped off like frosting on a cake. Happy all the time, is not in the Bible. However, a deep foundational joy is in the Bible. I want that unmovable rejoicing which comes from the knowledge that my savior lives. I have joy because I know that God’s amazing grace offers a perfection into my life. I am happy because my mother-in-law makes amazing pecan pie. See the difference?

The second rub is like the first in that our lives are not always pleasant. As pastor Bill Tenny-Brittian says, "Jesus was not born in Bethlehem to make the darkness more manageable." Jesus comes into our lives to make a change, not just to help us cope. Most of what we see of Christmas preparations around us are about helping people get along easier with the world as it is. However that is just not the case for Christmas. Jesus comes into the world and the world will no longer be the same again. Everything changes. This message is just as counter-culture today as it was 2000 years ago. It is also just as true and life-giving.

Now based on that kind of savior and the passage at hand for direction, how is your Christmas season rejoicing going?

Unclaimed Grace

2008-10-23T18:06:00.002-05:00

To know not and
Be out for
More than self
Is to find
The prize most valued.

In humbleness be
Yet without the need to hold
Is the wealth
Of kings and pirates.

Folly the struggle
Lost between reason and wisdom
While unclaimed
Sighs the grace
Of love and sacrifice.

- D. A. Weesner

YaHoo!

2008-10-16T15:48:00.004-05:00

A big thank you to all my followers on this blog, all one of you. YaHOO! I must add that you are my favorite follower at this point.

casinos and hooters

2008-10-16T15:35:00.003-05:00

How long can a society exist with a main focus upon casinos and Hooters? I do not believe the essesnce of life is to identify and then consume the correct light beer. I do not belive the goal in life is to have sex with as many differnt parteners as possible, or even to have sex, for that matter. Real lives need a deeper refrence point. Honest living require a renewal of hope. I only find these needed things in unexpected places, like companionship, prayer and silence. How about you?

Notes for Sunday October 26, 2008

2008-10-16T15:27:00.000-05:00

Read: Matthew 22 - 23

Our world clamors for a word by which we can live. Our world demands a thought, a sound bite, which offers the fullness of life in one digestible morsel. Over and over in my pastoral life persons have begged for the correct path, the best way, to travel for the next few days or weeks. My answer usually leaves folks under whelmed. And I feel much like Jesus must have felt when he told the rich young ruler to go and sell all his possessions and then come and follow. The path, the word, the thought to live by is simple, not complex. It is quite accessible and not some hidden secret code. There is no conspiracy theory leading us to a yet unknown conclusion.

Jesus was asked by some leaders of the church, who were trying to trap him, what he believed to be the greatest commandment. Jesus responded by offering back to them a saying known as the Shema. Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and your entire mind.” Now that was the correct answer for those who would trap Jesus with words, however, this was the correct answer and so they were silenced.

Words, however important they might sound, were not what Jesus was offering for an answer. He was telling them that the actions the words attempt to describe are the real commandments. To speak with grace is one thing, to act gracefully is quite another. Which do you think God honors, our words or our actions? Or perhaps the better question, which honors God more? Can you see the subtle, but important difference? When we act with God in our hearts, we are moving just a little closer to home.

Worship Next Week
Scripture: Matthew 22:34-46
Sermon Title: “The Great Commandment”

Wisdom and Knowledge

2008-10-09T14:09:00.000-05:00

Wisdom and knowledge two sides of the same coin. One will answer questions, the other will question answers. Now, which is which?

It is Fall

2008-10-02T18:48:00.002-05:00

I rate fall as one of my favorite seasons. It has color and crisp feeling frosty mornings. It comes right after summer and I tend to get bored with summer after a while. Green, green, green. How many green and growing days in a row can a guy take? I like my late summer tomato’s however. And the entire gardens produce. I will miss the smell of an early morning summer showers and the wonder of full summer sunsets. Yes, summer is good too, one of my favorites. Spring now there is a strange season. Mud everywhere and the weather is so unpredictable that I never know what to wear for sure. Spring has flowers shooting through the last snow, and an explosion of new life colors upon the bare landscape of grey dull winter. Spring is one of my favorite seasons. Winter is hard, cold, and basic. Survive or else. The snow can be so brutal and unforgiving. But have you ever noticed that when those cold hard storms come, they are also breathtakingly beautiful? I like to get cozy and rest during a winter storm. For sure, winter is also one of my favorite seasons. But this is fall; and did I tell you it is one of my favorite seasons?

Notes for Sunday October 12, 2008

2008-09-29T10:05:00.000-05:00

Read: I Timothy

Some have asked if I was planning to preach on upcoming presidential election. I said no. They wondered about my preferences and ideas. I said it would not be in the best interest of the kingdom of God to use the pulpit to share my personal thoughts. Our non-profit status also assumes we will not choose sides in the political debate. However, just because we are considered a non-profit, I sincerely hope we are also not considered a non-prophet organization. As I considered my role, our congregation, and the national figures on voter registration, I have changed my mind and decided to preach about the election.

Now before you go red or blue on me, let me assure you I will be attempting to offer a prophetic voice in regards to the Christian responsibility in voting. I will not be lifting one party or one candidate over another. As Christians, there are just some things we should be clear about before we go into the last weeks of an election which will lead us into a new place in our history as a nation.

I am looking forward to an interesting sermon. You can e-mail or text me your thoughts to the following question this week as I prepare. As a Christian, what is our responsibility in voting? I trust God the answer will bring us all just a little closer to home.

Worship Next Week
Scripture: I Timothy 2:1-2
Sermon Title: “A Word on Voting”

Notes for Sunday October 05, 2008

2008-09-25T11:29:00.002-05:00

Read: Luke 15

When we think of the empty nest we instinctively think of the parents and their adjustment to an empty bedroom. Our first thoughts are about the family when one member leaves and the changing dynamics of schedule and space. We consider the primary unit as the most important part. However, the one who has moved, left the family nest, is also in stress. Just perhaps we are missing the real need if we look only to the parents and the family unit.

To leave home is stressful. It is also exciting and full of promise. Most of us were scared out of our wits about leaving our homes. I remember standing on the Iowa State University campus looking out at the moving mass of people during a class break thinking to myself, “What am I doing here?” I was afraid of failure, but was also just as afraid of success. I experienced some of both. We all do.

A word from home, a note of encouragement, home-baked cookies in a foil lined box can mean the difference between lost and found. What would it cost you to write a note to the kid down the block who has left home this fall? What would it cost you to offer a note of encouragement to a young person whom you may have never met, but understand because we are all human in our feelings and emotions. Has it been so long since you were the new chick pushed out of the nest that you have forgotten the anxiety and fear that accompanies this step in life?

In the story of the lost son, there are actually two sons who are lost. One has physically left home; the other has stayed physically, but left home in his heart. Now let the sermon begin, bringing us all just a little closer to home.

Worship Next Week
Scripture: Luke 15:11-32
Sermon Title: “The Empty Nest II

Notes for Sunday September 28, 2008

2008-09-18T15:57:00.001-05:00

Read: Ecclesiastes 3

Your son or daughter has gone to college, joined the military, or just moved out of the house into their own apartment. You find yourself in a new place in life. Others have walked this path before; they have named it the “Empty Nest.” All you know is that your gut is tied in knots and you weep, at the drop of a hat, like you have lost your best friend.

The empty nest is real. As we care for and love our children, we also send them off and grieve the distance we experience in this new season in our relationship. What does God have to say about this particular place in life? I am looking to the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes which speaks of relationships and seasons. I find that what is good in one season may not be so good in the next. What is appropriate in one season many times lacks any function in a new season. And so it goes that we must reconsider our lives in the midst of a new day. Any change of children in the home places us into a new and sometimes emotionally difficult season.

This sermon is designed particularly for one entering this season of change. I expect a powerful service with deeply felt emotions and feelings. This is a wonderful time to invite a friend or neighbor who may be experiencing some type or change or new season in their life.

Worship Next Week
Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Sermon Title: “The Empty Nest”

Notes for Sunday September 21, 2008

2008-09-10T15:00:00.000-05:00

Read: Isaiah 43 Tool Time: Witness

Your witness gathers all your gifts into one place. In witness you make known that which is your passion. Through witness you share your goals and dreams for yourself and others around you. Everyone shares a witness. Good or bad everyone shares a witness with the world.

Think of a great big tool box. Every good work you will ever want to accomplish will have a tool, ready for you, stored in the tool box. As we reach to open the drawers, we will find tools to accomplish amazing tasks. There are always more tools than there is energy for the day. These tools allow us to accomplish our work with integrity and precision.

The prophet Isaiah shares the power of God to renew and restore all things. This God is the creator, the master builder, the keeper of the tool box. God has called us and named us. God breaks the bonds which hold us captive. We are a witness to this amazing power. We see, and then share. We experience, and then proclaim. We receive a witness, and then share a witness.

The power of witness is the power of the Spirit in at work in the world. Our witness is a tool chest brimming with potential. Let’s go to work.

Worship Next Week
Scripture: Isaiah 43:1-12
Sermon Title: “The Tool Box”

A Word on Service

2008-09-04T15:13:00.001-05:00

To serve is to put love into action. Serving others offers a means of grace.

Serving may be the final lesson learned in the life of a disciple. As we serve others we become selfless and mirror the actions of our Savior. Seems to me all others actions of a disciple, like giving or praying, can be confused with a building of the self. Serving empties the self, focusing on the need of the other. Sacrificial service is the action of a mature, or at least attempting to mature, disciple.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13, "...the greatest of these is love." The word here in greek is "Agape," which means a love which serves the other. Paul knew that "to love/to serve" is the greatest gift of the disciple.

What did Bob Dillon sing about in the 60’s; “You got to serve somebody. It may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you got to serve somebody.”

Notes for Sunday September 14, 2008

2008-09-04T14:40:00.001-05:00

Read: Ephesians 5:1-20 Tool Time: Service

Your service to others is a light to the world. By serving, we offer grace which shows the love of God in action. To serve is to love. To serve the stranger is to love even the unlovable. When we do not choose who we are serving we offer the non-judgment of Christ Jesus.

Serving may be the last lesson learned in the life of a disciple. We can gather and have it be about us, our relationship, and our need being met. We can grow and still it is our maturity, our focus toward life which changes. However, when we sacrificially serve, without reservation, our focus becomes the good of the whole, the life of the body. It is no longer we who live and work, but Christ who lives in us. Service, more than any other of the tools of discipleship, may offer maturity in Christ.

Paul shares we should walk as children of the light. We are to expose the darkness by shedding light, the goodness of God upon the world. He says this like we are asleep and then wake up to a new day of new possibilities. Christ will be our light; we need not worry or be confused.

Serving acts as a light. Serving illumines the path toward the kingdom of God. Why work in the dark, stubbing our toes, stumbling on the uneven ground, when all we need is a little light for the journey. What did Bob Dillon sing about in the 60’; “You got to serve somebody.” You know light when you see it, so does the world. Why not let your light shine?

For Sunday September 07

2008-08-28T11:08:00.001-05:00

Read: Luke 20 & 21 Tool Time: Gifts

Our gifts are tools we can use in building the Kingdom of God. Gifting can offer the oomph needed to move forward in grace. Gifting can give us a safe place to stand and see the future. Your gifts can mean a meal for the hungry or a bed for the homeless. It is true that by offering gifts we become the gift. Even stranger is that the one most blest by our giving is ourselves. Giving changes and cleans our hearts. Nothing else has the same capacity for transformation of the soul like giving. My experience is that givers never complain, and complainers never give. The selfish person says, “I do not need to give. They have enough, I need more for myself.”

We are confronted with the widow who gives all she has to live on as a gift in the temple. She is following the wealthy who have made quite a show of their giving, making sure the coins clink and clang for all to hear their respect for the ways of God. Jesus simply turns to the disciples and offers the obvious. The woman has given more than her wealthy neighbors. Be careful with the working in this passage. She did not give everything she had, but rather, all she had to live on. There is a difference. She was willing to put her trust in God for her daily needs. Would I be so bold, so willing? It seems Jesus is offering the idea that giving is about the need of the giver to trust God and give, not the needs of the temple to receive. If the church had all the money it needed to meet the budget, would you still give? Would you sacrificially give like the widow?

Giving acts like a level. Giving puts us on a good and level place in the kingdom of God. We can fight uphill our whole lives, wondering why God has not seen fit to give us an easier path. When all we really need is to learn to give and the then path levels out. The path never really changes, however our perception of the path changes and that makes all the difference.

Worship This Week
Scripture: Luke 20:45 – 21:19
Sermon Title: “On the Level”

Next Week: Tool Time: Service

Notes for Sunday August 03, 2008

2008-07-31T13:02:00.001-05:00

Read: John 14 Biblical Mythbusters: God Needed Them

I never again care to hear the words, “God needed them.” Repeatedly in ministry, I have stood by grieving families as a well-meaning friend or family member has uttered these words. I try hard to not puke on my shoes. The words you just read are not strong enough to convey my disgust of this ill conceived, yet popular theology.

Our God never “needs” a child for a flower garden in heaven or “needs” a young dad for a heavenly choir. The God we serve would never kill or murder to gain fuller access to a life. What are we thinking when we say something like this? Oh yeah, we are not thinking. We are hurting, so we blame God. God did this. God is responsible. God is the heavy. This may also be a backward way of saying that regardless of our commitment to God, we all go to heaven. I do not find that idea in scripture, but it must feel nice to say something like this to someone who is broken in half with grief. Get real. God will be God in justice and in grace. God is not always pretty, but we can live with this kind of God because we know where we stand.

You can see my strong feelings about this topic and I am not very sure how the sermon is going to go. Guess it could be memorable to some. God have mercy.

The Good News is that God loves us and offers a just and graceful freedom into our lives. This complete and honest freedom means that sometimes awful things happen. Miracles also happen and they are a mystery of God; a blessed mystery. When we understand that God weeps with us, walks the lonely path with us, and grieves with us then we find a friend in Jesus like no other. God accepts us.

This is why it is so important to find Christ now and live into the grace of God today. Tomorrow the freedom of God’s grace may find us in a wrong place at a wrong time. It happens every day. Get with God. Bring your family to Christ. Share God’s love with your neighbors. It is all about life and death.

Cubs Baseball

2008-07-30T09:11:00.003-05:00

Here is a nice quote that makes me smile from Cub's manager Lou Piniella I found on ESPN.

After Soto's leadoff single, Zambrano popped out on an attempted bunt and broke his bat by slamming it over his knee in frustration.

"I wish I was strong enough to do that when I played," Piniella said. "I had to use a water cooler."

Notes for Sunday July 27, 2008

2008-07-17T13:04:00.004-05:00

Read: Luke 6:17-31 Biblical Mythbusters: Money is Not Important

Jesus spoke more about money than any other single thing. Jesus taught about our love of money and the need we have to let go of greed and treat our neighbors like we would treat ourselves.

Unfortunately, I find the church offering thoughts like, “Money is not important” or “Money is the root of all evil.” Yet money is so central to our lives that Jesus talked about our relationship with money non-stop. Lets be clear that money is not evil. Rather in 1 Timothy 6:10 we read it is the love of money which is a cancer in our souls. Money is quite important. However, money is not the Lord our God and we should not worship money and the possessions it affords.

The problem for us is that we must live in the world using money on a daily basis, while shunning a dysfunctional relationship with the idea of wealth. We have to use money to live, however, we must not make money our primary focus or vision for our lives.

Most folks, even in the church, have money as the number one God. Money directs our thinking and our giving. Our missions take a backseat to our pocketbook. What would a proper financial response to God look like? Would we only give when we hear the church needs money? Would we only give when hearts are touched by a tragedy? Or would we place God first in line and openly give a sacrificial-graceful offering because God has blessed us beyond anything 90% of the rest of world would even begin to believe?

Jesus talked more about money than any other single thing. I wonder if anyone is listening?

Worship This Week
Scripture: Luke 6:17-31 NRSV
Sermon Title: “Money is Not Important”

Notes for Sunday July 20, 2008

2008-07-09T17:07:00.002-05:00

Read: Matthew 22: 15-22 Biblical Mythbusters: God Bless the USA?

It needs to be said. “God bless the USA,” is not a Biblical text. Most all of us have grown up in the luxury of freedom. We have wonderful access to education, arts, and employment opportunities. We can worship what we want, when we want, and with whom we want. That is a constitutional freedom. What an amazing country we live in today.

The rub comes when we begin at take for granted these wonderful freedom opportunities and assume that God has blessed the USA in such a way that we are different, unique, among all of God’s children. We forget that these freedoms were earned, not given. Freedom is painfully extravagant, even while our society blithely demands regression in the midst of recession without concern for the sacrifice needed to maintain even our current posture of freedom.

Does God consider the USA as the Promised Land, the chosen people, or the revelation of the kingdom of God on earth. I hardly think so. Let us turn that idea on it’s head and consider how the USA might Bless God, rather than the other way around. So is it wrong to sing along with Lee Greenwood, wrong to feel national pride, or wrong to say the pledge a allegiance, salute the flag, or shed tears at the national anthem? No, these are all fine and good. However, also be clear that the kingdom of God is a Kingdom of all of God’s children from all corners of the world.

From the second verse of the great hymn, “This is my Song,”
“My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean, and sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine; but other lands have sunlight too, and clover, and skies are everywhere as blue as mine, O hear my song, thou God of all the nations, a song of peace for their land and for mine.”

Worship Next Week
Scripture: Matthew 22:15-22 NRSV
Sermon Title: “God Bless the USA?”

Next Week: Biblical Mythbusters: Time is Money

Three Things A Leader Remembers

2008-06-19T14:21:00.003-05:00

This Sermon was preached at 8:00AM on June 15, 2007 at Salem UMC, Counicl Bluffs, Iowa by D. A. Weesner. The scripture used was Exodus 3:1-22.
A Leader Remembers:
1. Who is the Enemy
2. What You are Trying to Do
3. Remembers the Unknown

World Religions: Christianity

2008-06-19T14:15:00.002-05:00

About Christian Marriage

2008-06-19T14:07:00.001-05:00

Notes for Sunday June 22, 2008

2008-06-19T11:12:00.001-05:00

Read: Acts 7:54-8:1; Romans 8:1-2; I Corinthians 2:1-5 Things a Leader Forgets

1. Forget Your Failures
2. Forget Your Old Hurts
3. Forget Your Ego

We will compare three passages from the life of the Apostle Paul (Saul). His mission was to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to the gentile world. God used him to change our world over the last 2000 years. Now that is leadership.

We can learn from the things Paul forgets. He affirmed the murder of Stephen and had to work past the remembrance of his involvement.

Paul was persecuted and shutout from old friends and life long goals. Learning to forgive and forget allowed him to move forward into grace.

I also believe Paul was able to lay aside his ego that he talked the talk but his ego was always in the foreground of his work) and focus only on Jesus Christ. Some pastors and theologians argue this point, but they mistake ego for confidence in Christ.

Paul learned to forget and became an amazing leader.

Worship Today
Scripture: Acts 7:54-8:1; Romans 8:1-2; I Corinthians 2:1-5 NRSV
Sermon Title: “Things a Leader Forgets”

Next Week: Leading Like Jesus

2008-06-12T12:31:00.001-05:00

Walk into almost any modern Christian bookstore and there will be a "Self-Help" section. Does anyone else laugh, or at least shake your head, at this?

For Sunday June 15, 2008

2008-06-12T12:23:00.003-05:00

Exodus 3:1-22 “The Message” Five Things a Leader Remembers

1. Remember who is the enemy
2. Remember everything begins with the individual.
3. Remember what you are trying to do.
4. Remember the un-knowable.
5. Remember who you are.

We will compare Moses’ call by God to lead the Hebrew people to freedom with our present day needs for leadership. I am leaning on Robert Greenleaf’s now classic work, “Servant Leadership.” For the last fifteen years, this book is always nearby.

2008-06-03T19:31:00.001-05:00

Intimacy is achieved through forgiveness and acceptance of ourselves and those around us.

2008-06-03T19:19:00.003-05:00

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is known as "Life Changing." Just perhaps, it should be better understood as "Death Changing." Think about it.

2008-06-02T16:07:00.002-05:00

Find comfort in the knowledge there are mountain peaks you will never climb, sunsets you will never see, flowers you will never smell. The world is larger than you and me. What a nice thought.

Also find comfort in the experience of climbing higher than expected, seeing further than your imagination, knowing more than you can touch and smell. Again the world is larger than we might guess. "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then we will see fully, even as we have been fully known." I Corin 13.

Scripture Readings Leading to Sunday April 06, 2008

2008-03-25T21:05:00.001-05:00

Read: Luke 24 Walk to Emmaus

Take a walk with Jesus. Visit with Jesus about the days events. Discuss the high and low points. Listen as he offers the story of life once more. Feel peace in our soul as never before. Walk and talk, share and listen.

Only you did not know it was Jesus while you were walking. You assumed it was another traveler, searching for the better part, just like you. You had not considered the person, only your personal feelings of despair, weariness, and frustration. You did not look in the face of the man, only listened, as he shared the stories of hope and courage. How could you have been so blind, so self-consumed? And yet, it was the Christ who had been walking with you all along.

The reason this story pulls at our hearts is that it is also our story. We have been the one walking toward home, full of self-pity and complaints. We have missed the presence of the risen Lord. And for what? You see, I believe God has more waiting for us than we could ever imagine if we only dared to look. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.

Consider the story differently. What if the traveler noticed the face, recognized the voice, and remembered the stories? What if he understood this was God, rejoiced, and worshiped. What if the travelers’ spirit was renewed in the full presence of Jesus? How might the story have taken on even more meaning and power? Perhaps that is the point. We have the opportunity of a lifetime right before us, which can move us just a little closer to home.

Sunday Worship
Scripture: Luke 24:13-35
Sermon Title: “Opportunity of a Lifetime”

Readings Leading to Sunday March 30, 2008

2008-03-19T17:41:00.001-05:00

Read: John 20 Doubting Thomas

Proof; we want proof before we get involved. We want proof of purchase, proof of identity, proof of ownership, and proof of investment. We want proof that we are not going to be ripped off, proof that we are going to have it our way, and proof that our voice is heard and our interests considered.

A fearful and anxious generation cannot trust; simply will not trust. The capacity to trust is not within our power. There are no second options, like, “Please, you go first.” The bottom line is the only line and we are living with our heads just above that line. All because we are taught, we cannot and should not trust “the man.” Who is the man anyway, if not we ourselves? By the way, isn’t the proof always in the pudding?

That is what Thomas thought. Show me the scars, show me the face of Christ, only then will I believe. He is like our Patron Saint because he nails our unwillingness to believe in the small things of Christ, and thus miss out on the big things. Thomas knows what we all know, that seeing prompts our believing.

But here is the funny thing about that. It is not true. Believing almost always comes as a pure faith response, rather than an experience of encounter. We are saved by grace through faith, not through revelation. We go forward in hope and trusting God, not because of what we have seen and experienced, but rather by what we have yet to see and hope to someday experience. It is in this Holy Spirit power that we step forward into the unknown through faith in love and grace for those around us. What will it take to move you just a little closer to home?

Sunday Worship
Scripture: John 20:19-31
Sermon Title: “In Search of Proof”

For Easter Sunday March 23, 2008

2008-03-14T11:42:00.000-05:00

Read: Matthew 27 & 28
Seventh of Seven Sermons in the Series: Investigating Jesus

Jesus did not play sand volleyball. He did not talk on a cell phone. He did not drive a Hummer. Jesus did not play Texas Hold-Em and gamble for entertainment. Jesus did not hang around with church people. Jesus did not raise hell. Jesus did not fill out a March madness bracket. Jesus did not drink bottled water. He did not eat pizza, ice cream, or hotdogs. Jesus did not listen to iTunes on his iPod. Jesus did not … well you fill in the blank.

A list of what Jesus did not do can go on and on. Our lives are very different from his. However, every difference carries similarities. Jesus was playful, ate the food of the day, traveled in the style of the culture, and sang songs.
Easter is the celebration that Jesus did not stay dead. This is the only thing Jesus did not do which matters. Our task is to believe, accept in faith what Jesus did not do.

To believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a daily event. To say faith is a one-time event and requires we never again question or even feel intimidated by the daily news in relation to life is not our claim as Christians. Weakness is our claim. Confusion is our lot. Daily reaching beyond ourselves is greatness.

Anyone can claim a breakthrough and live his or her whole life based on the “glorious past” of one event. However, the individual of faith is willing to get out of bed every morning and reframe those days’ events within the power of something beyond self. This Easter faith, in what Jesus did not do moves us just a little closer to home.

Sunday Worship
Scripture: Matthew 28:1-10
Sermon Title: “What Jesus Did Not Do”

Scripture Readings Leading to Sunday February 24, 2008

2008-02-14T11:54:00.000-06:00

Read: Mark 6 Third of Seven Sermons in the Series: Investigating Jesus

What did Jesus see? This simple question, like the others in this series, appears simple but can quickly become complex. Resist the temptation to get too theological too quickly. We will get there; but attempt to say focused on the Biblical Jesus for right now.

Scripture is full of accounts of Jesus seeing people and situations. He first sees the heavens open and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove. Mark records this as private revelation, while Matthew offers a more public viewing. Jesus sees the crowds and has compassion upon them, he sees the disciples and calls them to follow. Jesus sees individual after individual and heals them. He also sees human hypocrisy and vanity balanced against his experiences of faith and grace.

One might conclude that Jesus saw just about everything and everybody. We find comfort in this “big picture” view, after all this is God. “But did Jesus see me?” we ask ourselves. We want, no demand, a savior who sees and knows all things and situations, however, our post modern, pre-Christian, North American worldview faith also demands that Jesus sees me, knows my inward parts, and relates to me on a very personal level. What we find may both bless and trouble us.

Book: The Gospels are our primary source for this information. Try reading the Gospel of Mark this week. Be aware of key words such as looked, saw, perceived, and understood.

And Yes, I believe we can move just a little closer to home.
Blessings, Dave Weesner

Sunday Worship
Scripture: Mark 6:30-52
Sermon Title: “What Jesus Saw”

Scripture Readings Leading to Sunday February 03, 2008

2008-01-23T16:55:00.000-06:00

Read: Psalm 23 & Matthew 6:25-34
Overwhelmed
Fifth of Five Sundays in the Series: Life Changes

So many of our lives reflect the old story of the straw that broke the camel’s back. You remember, the owner kept loading the poor camel down with one straw after another until that one last straw was too much for the beast to bear. I have never personally worked around a camel, much less loaded one with straw. However, I have worked in environments that were almost unbearable. And we have all felt like we have bent under the weight of one too many problems or tasks.

The straw may be damaged family relationships, or job related stressors. We may find our straw to be of our own making or stacking. We may be guilty of piling on, both ourselves and others around us. Can we find a way to rethink the ways we carry our loads? Can we lighten up a little and keep moving forward? What does God have to say about our heavy burdens?

Author Max Lucado does a fine job of re-thinking the 23rd Psalm in a way which allows us to un-pack and un-pile our lives. He maintains we all attempt to lug around loads of stuff, baggage, we were never intended to carry. I think he is right. In addition the reading from Matthew finds Jesus in the midst of the Sermon on the Mount offering the disciples a new way to live. Jesus offers freedom from worry and baggage which is timely and refreshing for us to hear. I read this week that the most suicides occur on the Monday following the last Sunday in January every year. It has been a long cold winter already and we need to lighten up just a bit. Try smiling, even if you do not feel like it.

Book: Traveling Light. Max Lucado. 2001. W Publishing Group. Releasing the Burdens You Were Never Intended to Bear: The Promise of the 23rd Psalm.

And Yes, I believe we can move just a little closer to home.
Blessings, Dave Weesner

Sunday Worship
Scripture: Psalm 23 & Matthew 6:25-34
Sermon Title: “The Camel’s Broken Back”

Thoughts Leading to January 27

2008-01-17T10:12:00.000-06:00

Read: Genesis 12:1-9 & Matthew 4:18-22 Another Move Fourth of Five Sundays in the Series: Life Changes

Our mobile society moves more than any society in history. This life change carries considerable stress. Moving to a new place carries with it financial, emotional and physical stress. We discount the time involved in finding our way in a new place and as such discount the very people who move with us, say goodbye and hello to us. Moving is regrettable but is currently a large and stressful part of our life change experiences.

Mobility of society dictates that we will be a mobile people, not unlike the tribal nurture of the early patriarchs of the Bible who were tent dwellers and nomadic. Even the apostle Paul in the NT was a tent maker and moved from place to place based on God's call. Jesus calls the disciples who leave family and home to follow him. We consider the many types of moves we will make in our lifetime; new room at home, college or apartment, military service, marriage and family growth and grief, job changes and moves, retirements, assisted living arrangements with or without family. All these moves tend to be frequent and solitary. Biblical moves surely have a word for us. Even moving to a new seat in the sanctuary can offer a glimpse of the stress of moving . We can identify some common stress themes and also some healing themes in just such a silly move as changing where we sit.

Movie: Go see “The Bucket List” and consider how we adapt through seasons of change. Or rent the old movie, “Funny Farm” and laugh about everything that can go wrong when moving.

And Yes, I believe we can move just a little closer to home.
Blessings, Dave Weesner

Sunday Worship
Scripture: Genesis 12:1-9 God Calls Abram to Canaan & Matthew 4:18-22 Jesus Calls the Disciples
Sermon Title: “Another Move”

Scripture Reading for Sunday January 20, 2008

2008-01-09T20:35:00.000-06:00

Read: Philemon 1 Family Changes - Third of Five Sundays in the Series: Life Changes

Families now have to learn how to cope as fast as the changes coming towards them. Learning to balance this new skill along with the multitude of normal family building skills is possible, but difficult. How can we lower the learning curve and encourage stress reduction by acquiring new coping skills?

Using Philemon to Biblically balance family transitions may seem a stretch, but as we look at the context and focus of Paul's words we find they are very close to offering the same coping skills we will need to keep our families intact in a digital age of change. Life is moving so quickly that families are asked to change their family leadership priorities and skill sets on the fly with little or no accountability from the "experts." However, there appears to be some unchanging Biblical foundations found in Philemon which can give us a place to stand and move from as we embrace some new practices needed to keep pace with a mobile and digital society. Some of those foundations are: willingness to embrace change in others, in self, and a willingness to go home again. Forgiveness and acceptance are key pieces of this foundation as are communication and role identity. Powerful stuff.

BOOK: Families and Change: Coping With Stressful Events and Transitions, Patrick McKenry & Sharon Price Third Edition, Sage Publications Inc. (A text book for college classes, but useful ideas and suggestions)

And Yes, I believe we can move just a little closer to home.
Blessings, Dave Weesner

Sunday Worship
Scripture: Philemon 1:1-21
Sermon Title: “Digital Families”

Scripture for Sunday January 13, 2008

2008-01-02T14:29:00.000-06:00

Read: 1 Corinthians 13
Beyond Love Second of Five Sundays in the Series: Life Changes

Changes in our relationships, both positive and negative, cause us to feel the stress of this life change. It is easy to forget our Christian base from which all relationships have depth and meaning. We need reminding of these principals to keep them always in view in all our relationships.

...The Greek language has three words for love, which enable us to distinguish Christian love (agape) from passionate devotion (eras) and warm affection (philia). Jesus did not tell his disciples to fall in love with their enemies or to feel for them as they felt for their families and friends. Agape is a gracious, determined, and active interest in the true welfare of others, which is not deterred even by hatred, cursing, and abuse, not limited by calculation of results or limitations, based solely on the nature of God. Love does not retaliate, seeks no reward, and does not insist on it's own way.

We must go beyond what the world claims is love in our relationships, all the way to agape love. This is our task and it is difficult. Our lives will always be receiving new relationships and letting go of others too painful to hold. This Christian focus of agape love allows us to move with less stress in the midst of our life changes by offering a single purpose of life, not based in our personal needs or wants, but a full re-creating of God's love for us.

If you can, review these books to prepare for this topic:
Book: What's Agape Got to Do With It?, L.A. Wilkerson, GOSHEN PUB HOUSE. 2001. Cokesbury $8.80

My hope is you will consider inviting a friend who needs to hear a honest word about relationships and just how we can move beyond what the world calls love. Yes, I believe we can move just a little closer to home.
Blessings, Dave Weesner

Sunday Worship
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13
Sermon Title: “Beyond Love”

Scripture Readings Leading to January 06, 2008

2007-12-24T16:28:00.001-06:00

Read: The Book of James - When Cancer Met God - First of Five Sundays in the Series: Life Changes

Illness changes our lives. We are profoundly moved into a different existence by the devastating effects of illnesses such as Cancer, Muscular Dystrophy, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Arthritis, and many others. Our expectations for life, and how we will now begin to live in the midst of illness or the lingering conditions from illness is our constant human condition.

This sermon will rely heavily upon the resource, When God and Cancer Met, as a guide to the both the discussion and conclusion. The discussion is based in 19 persons reflections upon their cancer and the conclusion will be offered that God is meeting cancer as God meets any illness, with healing. That healing may however take different forms which are all God's way of offering healing. "I share Lyn's belief that God sometimes chooses to heal in different ways: physically, emotionally and spiritually. In the process of surviving a primary brain tumor, surgery, Chemo, and radiation, I gave my life to Christ, realizing that my physical health was not God's main concern, my Spiritual health was the biggest victim of a disease that needed attention and this was the way He FINALLY got my attention." --Chris Winand, cancer survivor . This quote captures the sermon focus designed to offer hope for our lives in change because of illness.

If you can review these books to prepare for this topic:
BOOK: When God and Cancer Met, Lyn Eib, 0842370153 Publisher: TYNDALE HOUSE
BOOK: It's Always Something, Gilda Radner, Simon and Schuster, June 1989

My hope is you will consider inviting a friend who needs to hear a honest word of comfort and maybe a chance to even laugh at our constant companion; illness. Yes, I believe we can move just a little closer to home.
Blessings, Dave Weesner

Sunday Worship
Scripture: James 5:13-16
Sermon Title: “When Cancer Met God”

Thoughts for Sunday December 30, 2007

2007-12-20T12:23:00.000-06:00

Matthew 1:18 – 2:23 The Magi Rescue Jesus First Sunday in Christmas

As you read though the passage for this week consider a couple of interesting facts. The Wise Men have come from the East to Jerusalem and are found asking this question, “Where is the child who has been born King of the Jews?” (Matthew 2:2) This is the very first quote in the New Testament not coming from an angel or Old Testament prophet.

This question of where, may be the question of the entire Book of Matthew. Driving home the question further is the same question asked by King Herod, for entirely different reasons, in verse 4, “…he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.” Here we have it in plain view; the king does not know the Messiah, neither does the general population of the country. The Magi have to ask and ask before they find the answer from Herod’s advisors, “In Bethlehem of Judea.”

Also interesting is that the question of the Magi, in verse 2 quoted above, offers the inscription placed on the cross above Jesus at his death, “King of the Jesus.” At Christ’s birth and his death, he is accurately named. Matthew’s gospel offers this first clue of Jesus’ identity immediately following his genealogy, emphasizing his relationship to Abraham and David, listed in chapter one. Who, seems a pretty easy question for Matthew. Where, on the other hand, is worth a whole book to consider.

The question of where, should also be our question today. We struggle to find Christ in our relationships, in our work place, and in our homes. We look for signs of the presence of Christ, but many times, like Herod we do not see that which is plainly before us. It is the Magi who awaken us to the possibility of the Messiah in our lives. It is the Magi who ask the obvious child-like question, “Where is the child; where is the King of the Jews?” And all this is happening without our knowledge. Isn’t that just like our experience of God, who we continue to find mysterious, as we move just a little closer to home.
Blessings, Dave Weesner

Sunday Worship
Scripture: Matthew 2:1-18
Sermon Title: “Without Our Knowledge”

Scripture Readings Leading to Sunday December 23, 2007

2007-12-12T15:03:00.000-06:00

John 1 The Meaning of the Incarnation Fourth Sunday in Advent

We believe Jesus was fully human and fully God at the same time. For this to be reality means there had to be an act of incarnation; a bodily manifestation of a supernatural being. God became human and lived among us. We yearn for a relationship with this One who knows and understands us and yet still loves us.

Modern mythology in movies, sports, and fiction books are full of this same incarnation story image. We clamor to watch Superman, Spiderman, Batman, The Bionic Man, Indiana Jones, Lara Croft the Tomb Raider, Lassie, Roy Rogers, Harry Potter, The Matrix, Oprah, Michael Jordon, Dale Earnhardt, LeBron James, Barry Bonds, Tiger Woods, The Dirty Dozen (OK, maybe that last one was a stretch, but wasn’t Jim Brown’s character who died saving the “good” guys a Jesus’ figure?) See what I mean, we look for the Messiah everywhere, movies, books, sport figures.

The bottom line is that either we believe that Jesus was fully God and at the same time fully human or we do not. If we do believe, then we can stop our searching for the Messiah. Relax, Jesus is our all in all. If we do not understand and believe in Jesus, then we will keep searching and making kings out of talented and gifted people. Take a moment, center your thoughts on what you believe and are willing to stake your life on. Your contemplation is likely to move you just a little closer to home.
Blessings, Dave Weesner

Sunday Worship
Scripture: John 1:1-18
Sermon Title: “Start With Nothing”

Reading Leading to Sunday Dec 16, 2007

2007-12-05T15:24:00.000-06:00

I Corinthians 13 - Jesus’ Purpose - Third Sunday in Advent

Another sermon about love, give me a break. Maybe you are like me, I tire of hearing the same old message dressed up in new clothes and spun forth as if it is an entirely new concept. Love can be like this. Preachers have over-sold the idea for years on end that our God is love and our lives are only fulfilled when we mimic God. Sometimes when I hear there is another sermon on love, I feel like going and laying in the weeds until the sermon is over. Baa Humbug, woe is me, if I have to endure one more sermon on love.

Oh, wait, I am the preacher. And I chose this topic and scripture passage because the context of the season allows us to experience the message in a new way, a new light, with a new heart. Oh my goodness, what was I thinking? Perhaps I was thinking that you have just come through a tough year and your ears and eyes are now open to the new/old story of God’s love come to offer us hope. Perhaps, I was thinking that this topic can be more than ever before; more muscle, more alive, more transformative. Perhaps, I was thinking I might be inspired to “go off” on this subject the way I feel in the depth of my heart that it deserves. Perhaps, I was just dreaming of eggnog instead of a better sermon topic for the third week in advent.

We all need a sermon to help move us gracefully through the final days before the big celebration of Christmas. We need something on which to focus which is bigger than us, bigger than even the holiday it’s self. We need an idea to grasp our attention, move our hearts, and offer peace into our lives. Just maybe love is the only topic, the only idea, worth offering especially right now, to help our souls move gracefully a little closer to home. Funny, even when I am lying in the weeds, I still hear the voice of the preacher, and I even raise my head to listen more carefully to a few words. And I smile. But that is just me.
Blessings, Dave Weesner

Sunday Worship
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13
Sermon Title: “Love is …”

SErmon Thoughts for Sunday December 09, 2007

2007-11-27T22:39:00.000-06:00

Luke 1 The Songs of Christmas Second Sunday in Advent

Hey, I thought singing was simply opening my mouth and pushing out more air; kind of like talking on steroids. But if you study singing you find out there is a whole lot going on and happening at the same time. Singing is an act of coordination between several parts of your body, not just a bunch of hot air moving somewhere in a hurry. Posture, correct breathing, resonance, voice registers, and health of the vocal cords are all a part of the ability to sing. So are tone, focus, tempo, interpretation, diction, enunciation, and even stuff like how you end your vowels. Man, singing is tough, hard work; who knew!

They say singing is good for the soul. They say singing lowers blood pressure. They say singing everyday is good for our mental health. They say God created us with the most amazing instrument for making music. I have seen tough guys in the movies singing on the trail, singing in the rain, singing about the moon, singing about a dog or a horse, and yes singing about a girl. Clint Eastwood even sang to a tree in a movie once. Sometimes when folks sing, I cry. The lady sitting beside me at “The Lion King” last year must have thought I was a real loser because I could not stop my eyes from sweating. While I am on the subject, doesn’t everyone sing in the car? Yeah, me too.

Sometimes I just feel like singing. I did not say I was good at it, or even really understand how it happens, I just feel like it. Some days singing is easy, like eating an ice cream cone. Some days singing is tough; like at my dad’s funeral. But I sang that day, sort of.

This is the season for singing. We are singing fools at Christmas. This is the best reason to sing. The God of the universe has come to save us from our sin. So, as you find yourself singing all the non-Christmas Christmas songs (you know what I mean) be sure to add in a chorus of Away in the Manger, Silent Night, Joy to the World, It Came Upon A Midnight Clear, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Mary Did You Know, or my favorite; O come All Ye Faithful. See if all that singing hard work does move you just a little closer to home.
Blessings, Dave Weesner

Sunday Worship
Scripture: Luke 1:34-38
Sermon Title: “I Feel Like Singing”

Thoughts leading to Dec 02

2007-11-21T18:29:00.001-06:00

Isaiah 9:1-7 & 11:1-9 The Coming King First Sunday in Advent

What’s in a name? Apparently quite a lot. When parents are considering the name for their child many consult book lists, while others go with family names, or simply a gut feeling about the name.

Here is a list of the top ten names in the US for boys and girls from 2006 from the Social Security Administration. From most popular:
Boys: Jacob, Michael, Joshua, Ethan, Matthew, Daniel, Christopher, Andrew, Anthony, William
Girls: Emily, Emma, Madison, Isabella, Ava, Abigail, Olivia, Hannah, Sophia, Samantha

This passage from Isaiah offer the best all time names for Christ Jesus. Unlike our favorite names for our children, these tend to be descriptive of Jesus attributes and abilities. It is a pretty cool list; take a look. We are going to be looking at these names and learning more about the Christ and ourselves. The goal is that this investigation will lead us all a little closer to home.
Blessings, Dave Weesner

Sunday Worship
Scripture: Isaiah 9:1-7
Sermon Title: “Name the Child”

Scripture and Sermon Thoughts for Nov 18, 2007

2007-11-08T14:50:00.000-06:00

1 Kings 4 & 5 Elisha’s Miracles Month of Miracles

The easy and the hard both happen to us on a daily basis. Some stuff we do not even give a second thought. The light changes, we push the gas, and the car goes. We open the faucet and water fills our glass. We look toward the East and the sun peaks over the hills to offer a visual feast. Other things take place which feel so hard to accomplish that we wonder how and why this thing took place. The baby takes the first breath. The final breath is not received until after all the family has arrived. The broken arm heals, the final step of the marathon is planted, or the evil is put down once and for all.

Miracles are both easy and hard. It is almost funny to note that they can be of the same stuff. One might see the thing as hard, another as easy. One will moan under the stress and load of a particular situation, while another will sail along through life with the same situation. Both are miracles, both are amazing. We always say that miracles are of God. We always say things that lead us believe that God makes miracles happen, even plans the miracles in our lives. They are God moments when we are offered a closer glimpse of the kingdom. Miracles show a closer walk with God.

However, I think miracles may not be about God at all, at least not in the sense that God provides them for us alone as if we are consumers at the supermarket asking for a miracle stew to meet our hunger. Just perhaps miracles are in the way we approach our lives. Maybe Einstein was right when he said, “Either everything is a miracle, or nothing is a miracle.” Perhaps how we understand God’s presence in our lives and our everyday events, both hard and easy, dictates if and how we identify miracles in our lives.

The miracle is life itself. It is when we begin to categorize some events as easy and others as hard that we undo the very grace of God’s life giving Spirit. It is all miracle, and it is all both hard and easy at the same time. To claim a miracle of God is to claim the very being and presence of God. And that my friends, ah yes brothers and sisters in the faith, that claiming of God and only God in our lives as our miracle power, which runs in and through all things at all times, is the beginning of wisdom and moves us all a little closer to home.
Blessings, Dave Weesner

Sunday Worship
Scripture: 2 Kings 5:9-14
Sermon Title: “Miracle Healing”

Scripture and Sermon Thoughts Leading to Oct 21, 2007

2007-10-11T12:12:00.000-05:00

Amos 5 We are Called to do Justice Growing in Discipleship

The pledge of allegiance ends with these words, “Justice for All.” Rarely do we consider that when we say the words of the pledge we mean that we will make the changes necessary to allow justice for all to become a reality. We are the people, we are the ones who will make justice a reality on national scale. We must act in regard to those who have no voice, who have no place or position of power in our society.

The prophet Amos calls the people of God on the carpet. Israel was living high on the hog, things were going really well, profits were up. The military security and economic affluence which they were experiencing were taken by many Israelites as signs of the Lord’s special favor that they felt they deserved. Sound a little familiar?

Amos was given the difficult task of preaching, “harsh words in a smooth season.” Amos denounced reliance upon military might, injustice in social dealings, abhorrent immorality, and swallow, meaningless piety. His uncompromising preaching brought him into direct conflict with the authorities of his day.

I feel God leading me to consider the children without food in our midst or the elderly increasingly marginalized by a quickening pace of society. I feel God leading me to consider my response to the foreigner among us, especially the ones who cannot speak my language, but who share my feelings and have the same dreams of God, home, and family. As I grow as a disciple of Jesus, I will learn to do justice and not just speak the words without regard to my personal response. And it is in that Gathering, that Growing, and that Going out to those I can help, that I find I have moved just a little closer to home.”

Blessings, Dave Weesner

Sunday Worship
Scripture: Amos 5:14-15
Sermon Title: “Justice for All”

Scripture for September 23, 2007

2007-09-13T16:20:00.000-05:00

Ezekiel 37:1-14 The Valley of Dry Bones
The movies show a crowd of life-less zombies walking along without a light in their eyes. They are attempting to frighten by offering a vision of dead people who are somehow, not dead. We hide our head under the pillow until the hero with the anti-zombie cure comes and makes the world safe for us once again. We trudge off to try to our own beds to attempt to sleep, muttering something like “stupid movie,” all the while knowing that we are going to lie with eyes wide open until our own death-like slumber overtakes our thoughts of the zombie movie.

I recently spoke with a UMC pastor who shared that he and his spouse were watching TV when a commercial for the United Methodist Church aired. He said the commercial had a bunch of folks walking over a pasture hill like zombies. The story line was simple that the people of the UMC has opened our doors, our hearts, and our minds to the world. The point was to be that this huge group of people were marching toward some sense of unity in Christ Jesus. What this couple experienced was a commercial that reminded them of the zombie march of a group of life-less people. He was bent over in laughter telling the story. Maybe you have seen the commercial, I have. But now, I will look for a light in the eyes of the group of folks walking over the hill toward a new day.

My point is that just perhaps my pastor friend is right. Perhaps the UMC looks like a bunch of life-less zombies to a world of folks overtaken by the passions of worldly knowledge. Just perhaps the church is so out of touch with reality and life itself that we appear dead. What does it mean to be alive? Are we walking like dead people, not seeing, not hearing, not responding to the opportunities to share God’s blessings with a hurting world?

I expect to make some folks uncomfortable this week. Are you alive in Christ? Give me evidence; prove it. I also expect to bless some folks this week. The Spirit has power to offer life. And it is in the life of Jesus Christ alone that we will together walk the path a little closer to home. Buckle your seat belts for this one. Or not.
Blessings, Dave Weesner

Sunday Worship
Scripture: Ezekiel 37:1-6
Sermon Title: “The Living Dead”

Reading for September 9, 2007

2007-08-29T09:31:00.000-05:00

Exodus 1,2,3 The Call of Moses

The call of Moses is foundational. God calls each of us into the priesthood of all believers. These first chapters of Exodus outline the birth and call of the great Mo-sayes, leader of the Hebrew people to a new life. We find strength and hope in this narrative.

The faith of a mother who, in a desperate attempt to save his life, would put her child in a basket and push him off into the flow of the mighty Nile, instructs us into a new path, a new reality for out lives. She could not know the outcome. She had to trust God, fully trust God, only trust God.

We may understand ourselves as the one in the basket, the one on the shore weeping for her child, the sister running the shore to maintain contact, or even Pharaoh’s daughter who draws the baby from the Nile against the wishes of her father. Whatever our place, a willingness to listen to God and then act with faith is our path to moving us all just a little closer to home.
Blessings, Dave Weesner

Sunday Worship
Scripture: Exodus 2:1-10
Sermon Title: “A Basket Case”

Readings Leading to September 02, 2007

2007-08-23T08:37:00.000-05:00

2 Corinthians 4 & 5 New Life in Christ Jesus
The Apostle Paul writes that we have treasures in clay pots. Some days I think mine is cracked. But that is the point he is making. We have the most wonderful gift hidden in these most common of items. The Spirit of God resides within us. Why would God allow something so wonderful to be carried by such a common thing as you and me?

Paul also offers that if anyone is in Christ Jesus, they are a new creation. This is where I think my sermon will center. This idea of a new creation is just like something God would do. Take everything that is common and make it into something new, something amazing. To be a new creation is to let go of all our pain and worry and grasp a new reality, waiting for us like a bride awaiting the wedding march. Could God be that good? Could we be that unwilling? Could this be real?

Consider with me what our lives will be as we fully rest into Christ Jesus. Consider those who live in need and the impact the new creation will have on their lives. Reach out to Jesus and let God heal that cracked pot of a live. And when we do this, day by day, we all move just a little closer to home.
Blessings, Dave Weesner

Sunday Worship
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Sermon Title: “From Now On”

A Word on Youth

2007-08-13T13:29:00.002-05:00

You are young for a reason. It has to do with years lived and physical development. Yet, here is my observation. Your youthfulness, being young in age, means nothing when it comes to wisdom, knowlege of right and wrong, or ability to make change in the world around us. Do not disrespect or disreguard your young age, God does not. You are God's creation and as such, you are Holy right now. Being Holy is one area of your life for which you do not have to wait.
Others, even your elders, will notice and be moved into a deeper relationships by your example. Have you noticed that nothing really good and lasting happens without young persons. Think about it. Without your participation in life everyone is poorer. You can move mountians and make whole societies think in new ways. You will make better choices and focus your lives on more important topics than any society in the history of humankind. Yes, there will be changes and you will help lead them.
You are young for a reason. Your youthfulness is a very good thing and this is the Good News..