Words of Welcome

Luke 15:1-10 There’s the "in crowd" and the "not-so-in crowd." Everybody wants to be part of the in-crowd, but it’s often difficult to crack that circle. In the wonderful new movie Hairspray, which stars John Travolta as Edna Turnblad, the obese mother to an overweight but determined daughter named Tracy, we see one person’s determination to break down those walls. Tracy Turnblad has a dream and nothing will stand in her way. That dream is to dance on the Corny Collins Show – a kind of local American Bandstand. She’s a good dancer, but because she doesn’t fit the image of a dancer, she finds it difficult to break in. Only a slip of fate lets her inside, but still her detractors are merciless. Fortunately her determination and spunk make her a hit and she breaks down the walls for others. There is much to appreciate about this movie, which calls into question our stereotypes and our prejudices, but one of the most important points of this movie is that everyone has ...

Luke 14:25-33 St. Francis of Assisi was the son of a wealthy cloth merchant, a soldier home from the crusades, and a playboy. He wasn’t what you’d call religious, but one day he had a mystical experience that changed his life. This experience was so profound that he exchanged his life of leisure for a life of poverty and celibacy. And at least in the movie Brother Sun, Sister Moon, he gets so carried away that begins throwing bolts of cloth out the window of his father's business. He changed so drastically that both family and friends thought he’d gone mad. His embarrassed father even locked him in the cellar hoping Francis would come to his senses. When that didn’t work, Francis’ father went to the bishop for help — maybe to have him deprogrammed! The bishop told Francis to either use his family’s fortune wisely or give it up. And that’s what Francis did. He tore off his clothing and renounced his inheritance. As he read through the Gospel of Matthew, he began to hear a call to be...

Luke 14:1, 7-14 What would Emily Post or Martha Stewart say? Where should you sit if Oprah invites you over for a dinner party at her Montecito estate? Should you try to get there early and try to grab a seat at the head table? Or do you take a seat near the back of the room? Oh, surely it would be more fun and interesting to sit up front with all the important people, but . . . Proximity to greatness suggests greatness. Think back to the old Soviet era, when we’d read articles about the presumed order of succession. Kremlin watchers believed that the closer you stood to Gorbachev or Brezhnev during a public spectacle like a May Day parade of the troops, the more important you were. Changes in proximity suggested changes in the line of succession. This sense that proximity to greatness can rub off, drives our culture’s craze about celebrities. For some reason we hope that an autograph or a picture with a celebrity will change our lives. We live in a society that worships success, and n...

Hebrews 11:29-12:2 The saying goes: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." It’s a saying you hear before a tough race or game or a big decision. It’s supposed to be a word of encouragement when things seem too difficult and you’re thinking of giving up. Marathoners especially know what it means to keep going when things get tough. Running 26 miles that seems insane – at least to a non runner like myself. I do well to run a couple of blocks. Now my brother is a bit crazier than I am and he’s training to walk the Portland Marathon in October. From what I hear the training is hard, but the reward of finishing is great. It’s a sense of accomplishment that no one can take away from you. The image of the marathon runner stands behind this text from Hebrews. The story of the first marathon, the one ran by the courier who brought the good news that the small Athenian army had held off the great Persian army at the plains of Marathon. It was a famous dash that inspired a ra...

Luke 11:1-13 I bring you greetings from the Disciples of Christ General Assembly held this past week in Fort Worth. While there weren’t 10,000 Disciples gathered in Fort Worth, there was probably close to 7,000 present. That’s a whole lot of people. The 10,000 Disciples comes from a call put out by our General Minister and President Sharon Watkins for 10,000 Disciples to pray for the church and its ministry. We who gathered in Fort Worth this past week did just that. We prayed and we sang, we listened and we shared in the Supper of the Lord. We brought gifts and we did business. We argued and debated, and yes, we prayed. Like every General Assembly there were issues that divided the body. Issues like the Iraq war. Although the resolution placing the church on record as opposing the Iraq War passed, the house was divided, and prayer was needed. Our moderator, Bill Lee, an African American pastor from Virginia, did just that, he called us to pray for healing in the body. He prayed that w...

Luke 10:25-37 I grew up in small towns where we knew most of our neighbors, especially our neighbors with kids. Because everyone knew everyone else, our parents didn’t worry too much about us, as long as we let them know where we were going. We couldn’t get into too much trouble, because there was always a parent present to keep an eye on you and you knew that your Moms would talk to each other. But that was another time and another place, but it illustrates something about neighborliness – neighbors know each other and they watch out for each other. There is a flip side of this idyllic scene that illustrates the problem of not recognizing each other as neighbors. I read a story about a stabbing in a convenience store. A couple of thugs stabbed a woman to death, but no one stopped to help. A video store camera records customers stepping over the dying woman and one person even took a picture with a cell phone camera. Now that’s not very neighborly, is it? Every day we read about a neig...

Galatians 5:1, 13-25 Oh, to be free, really free, so that I could do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted!! Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Do you ever have such thoughts? I do! Well, since we’ve come to that time of the year when it’s mandatory to celebrate freedom, maybe it’s appropriate to think about such things as freedom and liberty. You do know that the 4th of July Holiday is just a few days away? I know the 4th is about barbeque, fireworks, parades, and summer sales, but still . . . Maybe it would be a good thing to talk about freedom, especially at a time when some of our freedoms seem to be in danger. Back in 1941 – I know some of you were alive back then -- President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared in his State of the Union Address his unswerving support of four freedoms, freedoms that should be for everyone, everywhere. Freedom of speech Freedom of Worship Freedom from Want Freedom from Fear When he spoke these words the United States had not yet entered World War II, but wa...