"Welcome Drinks On Arrival"

Matthew 10:40-42
10:40 "Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.

10:41 Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous;

10:42 and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple -- truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward."


I love the metaphor here.  A welcome extended to someone is like a cup of cold water offered at just the right moment.  You've had that happen, right? A tall cold glass of water just after doing yard work really hits the spot. Or perhaps a Left Hand brew along side a slice of pizza. Sometimes that one drink makes you feel completely new, totally refreshed.

In this short passage, we get to ponder "welcome."  How do we welcome others in Christ's name? And does it make them feel like they've been offered a cup of cold water on a hot summer day?

I heard a conversation on the radio the other day about how some airlines have quit giving out snacks and even drinks on board their shorter flights.  One DJ was saying he didn't think it mattered because if you can't get through two hours of a flight without a snack, you've got other issues.  The other DJ said it isn't about you needing it, it's about the gesture it offers, the welcome, the sense of neighborliness and goodwill. She said you don't usually have friends over and not over them something to drink.  True.

It got me to thinking about how important those small gestures are and how important it is to get the moment right, as well, in its offering.  When you fly somewhere, admit it, it DOES feel nice to have the flight attendant hand you a soda and a cookie.  When you check in at the Doubletree, it IS nice when they give you warm cookie. Some others do this, too, but Doubletree seems to be known for it.  We checked in our hotel in New Orleans recently and in true New Orleans style, were offered welcome cocktails.  There's something about that offer extended that makes you feel completely welcome and loved by the business that hands you the water bottle, the cookie, the cocktail.

What does that mean for us as a church?  How do we develop that welcome and loved feeling when we move into the community to be among the Niwot/Gunbarrel/greater Longmont/Boulder population? How do we extend a welcome to those who aren't walking in our doors?  And how do we get that 'warm cookie, cool glass of water' feeling to reach everyone who enters here?

Vacations are about letting your hair down, relaxing, getting away from it all. This summer sermon series on the Summer Vacation has addressed some parts of vacationing that aren't relaxing... getting lost, staying on guard and watching those around you, etc.  But this week, let us end by focusing on how falling into the grace and love of Christ can be like a cold glass of water on a hot day.  And let's think about how we can extend that same grace and love to our neighbor, so that the cup of cold water feeling continues, and spreads, and grows.

A movement called Suspended Coffees understands this good will gesture. Though not a religious movement, it certainly follows the golden rule.   

People also have a kind of ad hoc pay it forward campaign at Starbucks around the country where they pay for the drink of the person behind them in line. It's a cool movement. Random acts of kindness. Cold water.

What are your ideas for extending the cup of cold water to the world? Email me or comment below.

"When Getting Lost Is For the Best"

Matthew 10:24-39

This passage is tough. Jesus says he does not come to bring peace, but a sword. He suggests that one's foes will be members of ones own household. This is a tough, tough passage. It ends with those famous words "whoever finds their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it."

Suffice it to say, this isn't every pastor's first choice of a scripture for writing a sermon. But, occasionally, we do need to speak to the scriptures that make us wince, make us squirm in our seats a little, make us wonder "What, Jesus? Why?"

And so, we are talking, in this week's segment of Summer Vacation sermons about getting lost. When the best thing that can happen to you is your getting lost. Finding you way OFF the beaten path, possibly never to return.  Echoes of Robert Frost's 'Road Not Taken' swirling through your head.

Have you ever gotten lost on vacation?  I know we have. And sometimes it's fun. And sometimes it's not.  When I was a little kid, my family went to Florida. My dad was driving one car (the front) and my uncle the other car, which followed behind. My aunt says my dad drove through every yellow light in Florida and my uncle through every red. Back in the days before cell phones and GPS systems, you had to just keep up with each other if you were following one another on the open road.  Of course, we got twisted and turned around a lot on that trip and sometimes my dad asked for directions, but more often he did not. We got lost.

Barbara Brown Taylor has some great stuff in her book An Altar in the World,  but my favorite chapter in that book is the chapter called "Getting Lost."  She has a quote that speaks volumes about what it means to take a road that involves struggle and pain and strife that might just hint a little at what Jesus is talking about in today's text.  She writes, "You can get lost on your way home. You can get lost looking for love. You can get lost between jobs. You can get lost looking for God. . . I have set out to be married and ended up divorced. I have set out to be healthy and ended up sick. I have set out to live in New England and ended up in Georgia. ..While none of these displacements was pleasant at first, I would not give a single one of them back. I have found things while I was lost that I might never have discovered if I had stayed on the path…I have decided to stop fighting the prospect of getting lost and engage it as a spiritual practice instead.” 

Jesus, in suggesting the disciples might be at odds with family members and find themselves holding a sword instead of a peace symbol, is making it clear to those early followers that following the gospel message is not an easy game. It is more than just saying "I believe." It is living a gospel message.

In today's United Methodist Church, divided and fractured particularly on the issue of homosexuality, this rings true, doesn't it? Perhaps Jesus is saying that these kind of things are going to happen if people believe with all their hearts and souls that they are following the gospel way.  That mother will be divided against daughter and father against son. That is certainly playing itself out in our current divide. And all with everyone proclaiming to bear the gospel witness, on both sides. Maybe this sort of strife is what Jesus is referring to in this passage. This kind of strife.. just like the strife of Martin Luther in nailing the 95 Theses to the wooden church door... happens when churches have differing views on what it means to follow Jesus. Do we have to agree? What happens if we don't?

Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.  Maybe it means we can't be too sure of the path we are on. That we need to spend a lot of time wandering around and getting lost. Lost in our thoughts. Lost in conversations with others who think the same, but also in conversations with those who think differently. Lost and alone with what it means to follow the grace and love of Jesus Christ, no matter the consequences.

I think being lost can be a great freedom. When you have no one around you to impress but yourself and your God you can think very clearly about what you offer, or don't, to the world.

What does it mean to get lost in the faith? What does it mean to get 'found"?  "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me... I once was lost, but now am found, 'twas blind, but now I see."  What does that verse mean to you?

Email me or comment below.

"Best Travel Guides"

Matthew 28:16-20

There's nothing I love more than a travel guide. It is my favorite kind of book to read. I sometimes check them out of the library just to read them. And if I'm going somewhere I buy one and I read it cover to cover and make notes of the places I want to visit.  Recently, my husband Todd and I went to New Orleans and I forgot to pack the New Orleans travel guide I bought. You can see it hanging out on my travel guide bookshelf in this picture,  placed appropriately right beside the book called Cocktails. Anyway, how tragic it was that I forgot my travel guide. The trip was loads of fun, but we spent a disconcerting amount of time wondering where to go and what we should do without my constant travel guide companion alongside us.

In this week's scripture, Jesus, having just been resurrected, offers these words to the disciples:

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."  

Here we have the ultimate travel guide, Jesus, telling those who have been following his destinations... NOW IT'S YOUR TURN!  Go and make disciples of all nations. Teach and obey my commandments. But he leaves them with the line, "I am with you always, to the end of the age."  So, it might be these disciples' turn to start guiding others into the Way of Christ, but they are still going to be influenced, guided and directed by Jesus.  They may need to become travel guides for those who follow after them, but they are still ultimately guided by the principles and teachings of their Master Jesus.

How do we serve as travel guides to others on their faith journeys? Who along the way has served as a travel guide for you? Do you ever go away from home and leave "Jesus" on the shelf, forgetting how important it is to take him along on your journey?  What does it mean to feel lost without the guidance of our God and how can we prevent that from happening to us?

Email me or comment below.

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"Speaking French in Paris works wonders"

Acts 2:1-21

As I mentioned last week, I am only partially a proponent of the "When in Rome" idea. I don't honestly think I need to look exactly like a Parisian to walk the streets of Paris. I don't think, actually, there is anything wrong with looking like an American in Paris. (cue Gershwin music...)

But, I do know that it is important to try to follow the rules, customs, regulations and, yes even language of a country when you are visiting. It is important when you are in Paris to know un peu de français.   The people who say that Parisians are rude, in general, are those who expect Parisians to use English just because they know it.  I know I'm trained to think this way as a former French teacher, but really? I just want to shout, "YOU'RE IN PARIS! THEY SPEAK FRENCH HERE."  I might add that some of these same people that demand English be spoken when they are traveling abroad sometimes get very testy when we have other language speakers here at home if they don't know English fluently.  I get that other language learners should try to speak our language (that's my point above, after all), and usually they are.  But you can't have it both ways. Don't demand that someone else in a foreign country speak your language if you're not also willing to speak someone else's  language here. But this gets a little political and off the point and that's not where I'm headed. 

I have a story or two about how speaking French in Paris works wonders for how you get around and how pleasant your trip can be.  Of course the same can be said about any place on earth that we go, if we try our best with a few simple phrases in the native language.  

In this week's story of the entrance of the Holy Spirit into the lives of the early followers of Jesus Christ, we have an interesting passage about understanding and language.

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?

 It isn't that they all hear the same language in this moments, it is that the Spirit filled them in such a way that each could understand the others' languages.  And they are amazed! How could someone from Galilee be speaking in my native tongue? How could that be? Or is it just that I understand that person as if he is speaking my language? How do I hear it as my own?

I love the 'feel' of this section of the Pentecost story. We  presume that they are speaking in other languages, that's what the beginning of that passage says. But it ends by saying "how is it that we HEAR in our own native language?"  

This passage is about cultural differences being bridged, accepted, included. It is about reaching across a barrier and connecting in a way that seemed foreign before the Spirit intervenes. It is about understanding someone else's 'language' despite every reasonable piece of you thinking that you could actually do so.

The Spirit enters the early followers of Christ in this way. In a way that breathes inclusion, that sweeps like a violent wind throughout the room in order to create such inclusion.  What if Pentecost isn't just about the Holy Spirit entering our lives and residing in our souls, but is also about the concept of full inclusion entering our lives and residing in our souls?  Hmm. Ponder that one. I know I will be.

Questions? Comments? Email me or comment below. I look forward to hearing from you.