Sermon at the Funeral of Lorraine Stewart
Proverbs 31:10-31 (NRSV)
10 A capable wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
11 The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
12 She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.
13 She seeks wool and flax,
and works with willing hands.
14 She is like the ships of the merchant,
she brings her food from far away.
15 She rises while it is still night
and provides food for her household
and tasks for her servant-girls.
16 She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
17 She girds herself with strength,
and makes her arms strong.
18 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp does not go out at night.
19 She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her hands hold the spindle.
20 She opens her hand to the poor,
and reaches out her hands to the needy.
21 She is not afraid for her household when it snows,
for all her household are clothed in crimson.
22 She makes herself coverings;
her clothing is fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is known in the city gates,
taking his seat among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them;
she supplies the merchant with sashes.
25 Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.
26 She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
27 She looks well to the ways of her household,
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children rise up and call her happy;
her husband too, and he praises her:
29 "Many women have done excellently,
but you surpass them all."
30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
31 Give her a share in the fruit of her hands,
and let her works praise her in the city gates.
One of the things I learned from Lorraine had to do with grief. We all know how broken-hearted she was at the loss of her son Thomas Hall, and then how deeply she grieved when Lou also died. Not a day went by when she didn’t think of them. Yet she wove her mourning into her life so that she could go on. She had certain places and things in the house she kept as remembrances, and when she felt the need to mourn, she’d go to those places and to those things and allow herself to weep. And when she was done, she’d go on about her very busy life.
We can learn this from her. As we grieve our loss, as we find ourselves missing her, as I certainly do, we might just make a little time for her. Give ourselves a moment to feel our sadness and remember how blessed we were to know her.
That’s what we’re doing right now. That’s why we gather in this holy place.
I saw Jesus Christ in Lorraine Stewart. This is the aim of every Christian life, and Lorraine achieved it.
Our associate pastor, Lew McPherren, likes to say that when he was born, his mother got up and carried him across the street to church. I’m pretty sure that’s just exactly what Lorraine’s mother Myrtle did for her, and Lorraine said as much frequently.
I’ve been told Myrtle was near deaf, and the person who told me said it was God’s blessing. Apparently you’d have never known the Halls would turn out to be such a close family to see them when they were kids. I guess they were always going at each other, and it was Lorraine who played peace-maker nine times out of ten. In those days, she was always in a high state of anxiety over this or that crisis.
We laugh about this now, but we might just take a moment here to think about what we are saying. Lorraine didn’t do what she did just because of who she was. Even way back then, she was doing what she did because God was in her life through Jesus Christ and his church. She didn’t just go to church, she took seriously what she heard there, and put it into practice in the midst of her family.
And as she grew in faith and in years, she expanded her circle of concern.
Eventually she adopted the whole of Deltaville as her family, and she continued to feel it was her job to set people straight. She’d get right in your face and fuss at you to do the best thing for you and everyone else. And you never needed to worry she’d say anything behind your back. No, she’d come right up to you.
The funny thing was, you never had the feeling she was judging you or looking down on you. The main feeling you had was that she cared.
Of course, we couldn’t remember Lorraine’s caring love for everyone without remembering her handwork. If you went to her house, you’d notice on the door a sign that reads, “Martha Stewart doesn’t live here.” And you wouldn’t be disappointed when you saw the inside of her home. There seemed to be stacks everywhere. But if you look a little more closely, you find that every one of those stacks was a project, and most of those projects were for people she loved.
You see, people who follow Christ don’t value the things most of the world values. It didn’t matter to Lorraine what people thought about her. What mattered to Lorraine was what she thought about them.
Lorraine often gave thanks for all her friends. But I am reminded of what Molly Weston used to say. “Every good thing I ever did for anyone came back to me.” The hundreds if not thousands of people Lorraine’s life and ministry touched came back around in the huge circle of those who loved her.
One Sunday, I mentioned in my sermon that we’d been here for 135 years. I then corrected myself, “I don’t mean we have been here that long.” Lorraine called out, “I’m working on it!”
Lorraine was the oldest member of Philippi and had been a member longer than any other living person. She was baptized in 1922, only fifty years after the congregation was founded, making her a fully active member for 86 years.
She also been in Sunday School possibly longer than any other member. I figured it out and I believe she has attended over four thousand classes since she was baptized. You might never have known it, but Lorraine was deeply knowledgeable about her faith. The word of God was her food, and it was his love that guided her life.
Her circle of caring grew larger and larger the longer she lived, and eventually extended far beyond Deltaville. This, in my view, is more evidence that Christ was truly alive in her.
Everyone who has ever come to Philippi as a new visitor knows that Lorraine was one of the first people to come up with a warm greeting and a great big smile.
I’m told that years ago, a cruising couple tied up their boat at the wharf across the road from her home. The couple came out on their bicycles and stopped to ask Lorraine if it was all right for them to tie up there. Lorraine’s response: “Just as long as you come to church with me.” The couple accepted that invitation, and for years after, whenever they were in Deltaville, that’s where they tied up, and this is where they went to church.
Yesterday we just sent off a bible to a couple from South Africa who live aboard a cruising boat called Savanna Blue. We now have quite a few couples and families that live the cruising life who call Philippi their home in Deltaville. And so we can say that Lorraine’s love really is reaching all around the world. This is more evidence of Christ’s presence in her life.
Just as Lorraine liked to pause a moment and think about the people she’d loved, so I’d like us to pause right now and think about these things. Lorraine Stewart changed the world! Isn’t that amazing? Born and raised in a little rural town, never moved anywhere else, died and buried right here. But she nevertheless changed the world. She changed it one day at a time, one stitch at a time, one kind word at a time, one friend at a time. This is the real power of Jesus Christ. He comes into our broken world in the lives of those who follow him. In people like Lorraine.
Yes, how often she said, “Honey, you won’t believe the friends I have. They are sooo good to me.”
People don’t generally come to the end of their lives being deeply loved by literally hundreds of people. This is just not the natural way of things. No, such people are not born, but made, and I believe they’re made by God. I believe Lorraine would agree with me. I believe she’d stand right here beside me and testify that she didn’t have a thing to do with who she turned out to be. I believe she’d give God whatever glory there was to give. God made Lorraine who she was, and God is the one she thanked every day.
The last time I talked with her, she thanked God from the bottom of her heart for all the blessings of her long and wonderful life. And, as I have told our members, she spoke of her future in heaven not only as something she accepted, but as something she looked forward to with real joy. In the midst of her terrible pain, she smiled at me when she told me how happy she would be to see her parents and her friends and especially Thomas Hall and Lu. She looked forward to heaven just as you and I would look forward to the happiest journey of our lives.
The world and the devil try to tie us down, to make us what we are not, to enslave us to selfishness and fear. Most of us never really become all that we’re meant to be. Instead we try to conform to what the world wants to make us. This is because in one way or another we are cut off from God, from others, and even from ourselves.
Lorraine was free to be who she was meant to be. This is the greatest sign of Christ’s power. Jesus was exactly who he was meant to be, he was free to love God and his fellow human being exactly as he wished. No earthly or unearthly power could stop him. No one ever existed like him before or after. And this is the good news for those who follow him. We become like him not by doing exactly the things he did or in any holier-than-thou self-righteousness, but by truly and authentically being ourselves, people who love God and their fellow human beings in the unique ways each one of us is blessed to be able to love.
There never was anyone like Lorraine Stewart before and there will never be another. In this way, above all others, Christ’s light shines in her.
It is true Lorraine Stewart had many friends. And her greatest friend of all was a man named Jesus Christ. It is he who took her by the hand all those years ago and led her through this life, working through her and in her to bless us all. It is also her friend Jesus who raised from the dead all the ones Lorraine has lost through the years, her mother and father, her son and daughter-in-law, and all the friends who have gone before her, and it is her friend Jesus who now has raised her to rejoice with them forever at the throne of grace.
If there are phones in heaven, I’m sure Ms. Lorraine will find one. And I’m sure we’ll hear from her from time to time. I can hear her even now, saying, “Honey, you won’t believe the friends I have. They are sooo good to me.”
Amen.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Epiphany, Year A, January 6 2008
A Light From God
00 Epiphany 08
January 6, 2008
Isaiah 60:1-6
Psalms 72:1-7, 10-14
Eph 3:1-12
Matt 2:1-12
The season of Epiphany begins now and goes on for another four weeks. It’s a time when we consider signs from God. Some have asked me why my car is not in its accustomed spot under the tree. Well, it seems that in this last week about a million birds have decided to flock into that tree. My car has been buried in droppings.
Now, here’s the remarkable thing. Our new associate pastor, Lewis, always parks right next to me. Now do you think there is a single speck on his car? There is not. Is this a sign?
We got a Christmas card from Wyatt and Anna that pictured the three wise men offering their gifts to Jesus. The caption read, “Mary was worried all these gifts might spoil him.”
The world is searching for a light from God.
Our beloved Lorraine Stewart is fighting for her life this morning. She has always been a light to us all, and she has sought the light of God all her life. All the more now.
I know of a number of people struggling to get free of addiction and alcoholism. They are tearing themselves and their families apart. They are searching for a light from God. Their families are too.
And yes, your pastor is also searching for a light from God.
The wise men, when they finally found that light, were filled with joy. Isaiah speaks of the joy, the joy of the glory of the Lord rising upon you. This is how powerful the longing for that light is. When we find it, it fills us with joy.
I recall a story from Ken Burns’ documentary about World War II. There was a little girl named Sasha who had been interred with her family in a Japanese prison camp in the Philippines. They were not treated well. They all were slowly starving to death and many of their friends had died.
Sasha had a little brother. Toward the end of the war, they began to find leaflets dropped from American planes. “We’re coming,” they said. The little brother, who was about five, had a little suit he had saved for the day of his liberation. Every day he would put out the suit, hoping that day was going to be the day.
One day they heard a great rumbling and without warning the front gate came crashing down under the tread of an American tank. The day had come at last. The little boy ran and put on his suit and went running to meet his salvation. That’s the kind of joy we’re talking about. The joy of salvation. The joy of liberation.
The kind of joy you feel when you find that light from God.
You may not know that it is very likely the wise men were from what was then called Persia, probably the city of Babylon. That country is now called Iran.
How many of you are aware of the letter from Muslim leaders entitled a “Common Word Between You and Us”? Matthew, our gospel all through this church year, was the one most quoted by the 138 Muslim leaders who signed it. They quote Jesus, the king of the Jews the wise men from the east came to see, when he said:
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called Children of God." Matt 5:9 (NRSV)
The story of the Old Testament is the story of Israel, a nation created by God for the purpose of healing the break between God and his creation. People were created to be the image of God, but they refused that purpose very early on. God therefore called Abraham and began a centuries-long process of shaping a nation.
We believe that whole process was for the purpose of bringing forth Jesus. It was a kind of cultural and religious husbandry program. This is why we have all those boring “begats.” The families that God created to be the citizens of his special nation were the Petrie dishes in which he was growing the living culture necessary to produce the desired result. That desired result was Jesus.
Jesus is our king, our Messiah, whom the wise men called “king of the Jews.” That will be the inscription Pilate will put on his cross at the end of Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus is not like other kings or political powers. He is not a president, he is not a dictator, he is not an emperor.
He is instead the image of God, fully and completely realized, so perfectly realized that we call him the Son of God. He is our king, he is our high priest, and he is our prophet. He commands and we obey. He makes an offering of himself, and we offer ourselves with him. He speaks for God, and we understand God through him.
Our purpose is to be that light for which the world is searching.
Of course, as we learned last week in the terrible story of the murder of the innocent babies by King Herod, some are searching for the light to snuff it out. This is to be expected. There really is no fence-sitting when it comes to following Jesus. Our way is the way of peace and justice, because Jesus’ way was the way of peace and justice. Those who will be brought low when the Messiah comes certainly don’t want him to come.
The world searches for the light of God’s peace and justice. I do. You do. If we were to look deep down inside ourselves, we’d know that we really wanted these things above all other things. Our problem is that the means to them offered by the powers of the world invariably lead to injustice and turmoil and even violence.
And so the world is fragmented, broken apart into disconnected pieces. Without wholeness, all the pieces suffer. Even the wealthy and the powerful are suffering, perhaps worst of all. Look what anxiety Herod is living with. Look at our own tremendously prosperous country. People can have almost anything they want. Are they whole? Are they happy?
The world is searching for the light from God.
Our denomination has come up with a very evocative identity statement. “We are the Christian Church, a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world. I think that is wonderful.”
What a gift! What an opportunity! Isn’t it marvelous to be given such a privilege?
We are Philippi Christian Church, a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.
Amen.
00 Epiphany 08
January 6, 2008
Isaiah 60:1-6
Psalms 72:1-7, 10-14
Eph 3:1-12
Matt 2:1-12
The season of Epiphany begins now and goes on for another four weeks. It’s a time when we consider signs from God. Some have asked me why my car is not in its accustomed spot under the tree. Well, it seems that in this last week about a million birds have decided to flock into that tree. My car has been buried in droppings.
Now, here’s the remarkable thing. Our new associate pastor, Lewis, always parks right next to me. Now do you think there is a single speck on his car? There is not. Is this a sign?
We got a Christmas card from Wyatt and Anna that pictured the three wise men offering their gifts to Jesus. The caption read, “Mary was worried all these gifts might spoil him.”
The world is searching for a light from God.
Our beloved Lorraine Stewart is fighting for her life this morning. She has always been a light to us all, and she has sought the light of God all her life. All the more now.
I know of a number of people struggling to get free of addiction and alcoholism. They are tearing themselves and their families apart. They are searching for a light from God. Their families are too.
And yes, your pastor is also searching for a light from God.
The wise men, when they finally found that light, were filled with joy. Isaiah speaks of the joy, the joy of the glory of the Lord rising upon you. This is how powerful the longing for that light is. When we find it, it fills us with joy.
I recall a story from Ken Burns’ documentary about World War II. There was a little girl named Sasha who had been interred with her family in a Japanese prison camp in the Philippines. They were not treated well. They all were slowly starving to death and many of their friends had died.
Sasha had a little brother. Toward the end of the war, they began to find leaflets dropped from American planes. “We’re coming,” they said. The little brother, who was about five, had a little suit he had saved for the day of his liberation. Every day he would put out the suit, hoping that day was going to be the day.
One day they heard a great rumbling and without warning the front gate came crashing down under the tread of an American tank. The day had come at last. The little boy ran and put on his suit and went running to meet his salvation. That’s the kind of joy we’re talking about. The joy of salvation. The joy of liberation.
The kind of joy you feel when you find that light from God.
You may not know that it is very likely the wise men were from what was then called Persia, probably the city of Babylon. That country is now called Iran.
How many of you are aware of the letter from Muslim leaders entitled a “Common Word Between You and Us”? Matthew, our gospel all through this church year, was the one most quoted by the 138 Muslim leaders who signed it. They quote Jesus, the king of the Jews the wise men from the east came to see, when he said:
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called Children of God." Matt 5:9 (NRSV)
The story of the Old Testament is the story of Israel, a nation created by God for the purpose of healing the break between God and his creation. People were created to be the image of God, but they refused that purpose very early on. God therefore called Abraham and began a centuries-long process of shaping a nation.
We believe that whole process was for the purpose of bringing forth Jesus. It was a kind of cultural and religious husbandry program. This is why we have all those boring “begats.” The families that God created to be the citizens of his special nation were the Petrie dishes in which he was growing the living culture necessary to produce the desired result. That desired result was Jesus.
Jesus is our king, our Messiah, whom the wise men called “king of the Jews.” That will be the inscription Pilate will put on his cross at the end of Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus is not like other kings or political powers. He is not a president, he is not a dictator, he is not an emperor.
He is instead the image of God, fully and completely realized, so perfectly realized that we call him the Son of God. He is our king, he is our high priest, and he is our prophet. He commands and we obey. He makes an offering of himself, and we offer ourselves with him. He speaks for God, and we understand God through him.
Our purpose is to be that light for which the world is searching.
Of course, as we learned last week in the terrible story of the murder of the innocent babies by King Herod, some are searching for the light to snuff it out. This is to be expected. There really is no fence-sitting when it comes to following Jesus. Our way is the way of peace and justice, because Jesus’ way was the way of peace and justice. Those who will be brought low when the Messiah comes certainly don’t want him to come.
The world searches for the light of God’s peace and justice. I do. You do. If we were to look deep down inside ourselves, we’d know that we really wanted these things above all other things. Our problem is that the means to them offered by the powers of the world invariably lead to injustice and turmoil and even violence.
And so the world is fragmented, broken apart into disconnected pieces. Without wholeness, all the pieces suffer. Even the wealthy and the powerful are suffering, perhaps worst of all. Look what anxiety Herod is living with. Look at our own tremendously prosperous country. People can have almost anything they want. Are they whole? Are they happy?
The world is searching for the light from God.
Our denomination has come up with a very evocative identity statement. “We are the Christian Church, a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world. I think that is wonderful.”
What a gift! What an opportunity! Isn’t it marvelous to be given such a privilege?
We are Philippi Christian Church, a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.
Amen.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Change in editorial plans
Well, we've found that the blogging board for Philippi has not had a whole lot of visitors, so we're planning in 2008 to restructure our website and make this page the sermon page. If folks want to make comments on the sermon, as folks often do on Sunday mornings, they can do so, and our web page will offer important information on the schedule at Philippi and so on.
One of the wonderful things we have discovered about the website is that our cruisers use our page to keep up with Philippi and particularly the Sunday sermon. So we'll shout out to Hananiah and Savanna Blue and all the other boats that have graced Deltaville's harbors!
Peace,
Mike
One of the wonderful things we have discovered about the website is that our cruisers use our page to keep up with Philippi and particularly the Sunday sermon. So we'll shout out to Hananiah and Savanna Blue and all the other boats that have graced Deltaville's harbors!
Peace,
Mike
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Pastor Lyle writes from Bali!
From the Predmores on the Road again - a brief update on the current road trip.
Hiroko left for Japan May 7 and has been spending this month with her mother in Yokohama. I came straight to Bali on May 14 to fill in for the current pastor, the Rev. Richard Solberg, at the Bukit Doa English Congregation. (www.bukitdoa.org). Richard is also a retired pastor, but he agreed to a two-year term at the congregation to give longer term pastoral care and to strengthen the congregation. He started in October, 2006, and the church is responding to his care, and growing. But he is retired, and when we suggested he should take a couple of breaks during his two years, he and his wife agreed. So we will be filling in for them for six weeks; he has returned to his home in Arkansas for this time.
There are two congregations at the Bukit Doa Church, an Indonesian congregation that worships at 7:30 a.m., and our English service at 10:00. All of the Indonesian congregations worship at either 7:30 or 8:00 on Sunday morning; it is much cooler! There is another English language service at the Legian Church, also with both an Indonesian and English service.
Both the Bukit Doa and Legian churches are only 2 of the 73 churches of The Protestant Christian Churches of Bali, (GKPB). The pastor at Legian is Ed and Marylyn Seine. They are retired and live in Indiana. This is their first time in the VIM (Volunteer in Ministry) program and they just arrived the first of May. So I have been"showing them the ropes". They are a great couple, so it has been fun.
On Thursday I introduced them to the MBM, the mission outreach of the GKPB. MBM has a number of programs; there is a medical team that has clinics in several locations, agriculture division that helps farmers with pigs, cattle and some rice farming. They have an experimental plot for organic rice. They help people set up small business (really small: for instance a sewing machine so a housewife can help with household expenses). A step up from this program is a small bank to help people who have some credit rating, again to make loans. All of these loans require a business plan and are carefully supervised so they will succeed. They have a shelter for women who suffer domestic violence.
On Friday we took a long trip, total of about 11 hours, to the western end of Bali to visit Blimbingsari. This was the first Christian village in Bali, established in 1938. The church in the village is considered the "mother church" of the GKPB. On Friday they were making preparations for Sunday services by setting up extra tents around the sanctuary. Pentecost is a national holiday for Christians, so family members, children, grandchildren and those who have moved away from Blimbingsari return on special holidays, like Pentecost. They have a normal congregation of 300, but they were expecting 700 additional visitors for Pentecost Sunday.
Two of the seven orphanages of the GKPB are in Blimbingsari, one for elementary age children, one for middle school age. We visited both of them, and at the middle school orphanage we found 10 Australians working. They were from several Baptist Churches in Western Australia, and had been at the orphanage all week. They helped remodel a boy's dorm and paint it. In the past year they also had a fund raiser in their churches to build an addition to the girl's dorm. These are welcome changes to the facilities; they look much better than they did a year ago when I was there.
Saturday was fairly quiet; Rev. Priana, the General Secretary of the Synod, called and wanted to stop by our place at the hotel. He had a young Indonesian couple with him from one of the village churches. They live in this area now and have a six year-old autistic girl. He was giving pastoral care, and wanted to have prayer together for the child.
Today was my second Sunday at the church. It has been good seeing many of the familiar faces, and getting acquainted with some of the new members. We also had the ten-Australian work team with us; they had come back to this area on Saturday. Also a German pastor, Rev. Bertold Dowery, that we have known from previous visits. He has been in Indonesia as a missionary and teacher for 30 or 40 years. He brought two visitors from Germany. It was good seeing him again and meeting his guests.
The Bukit Doa Church was built in 1998, so both the Indonesian and English language congregations started at the same time. The Indonesian congregation is approaching 1,000 in membership; our English congregation has been averaging 50 since Rev. Solberg arrived. Rev. Eka, the Indonesian pastor, called yesterday to warn me that they might not be finished by our 10:00 worship time. It was Pentecost Sunday; they were receiving new members and having three baptisms. He was right; it was a little after 10:00 when they finished, so 10:30 by the time we started.
One of the Indonesian music groups of about ten were scheduled to stay and have special music for us today. The Australian work party had been working on a song in Indonesian all week to share with us. The two girls visiting from Germany were going to sing in German, they practiced in the car on the way to church, and then decided they would not. Nevertheless, with the visitors, the late start, only my second Sunday with this order of worship all added up to a good morning, but I was exhausted by the time I got home!
Hiroko arrives this Thursday. It will be good to have her here. I am getting tired of the greeting, "Hi how are you WHERE IS HIROKO??!"
Keep us in your thoughts and prayers, you remain in ours.
Hiroko & Lyle
Hiroko left for Japan May 7 and has been spending this month with her mother in Yokohama. I came straight to Bali on May 14 to fill in for the current pastor, the Rev. Richard Solberg, at the Bukit Doa English Congregation. (www.bukitdoa.org). Richard is also a retired pastor, but he agreed to a two-year term at the congregation to give longer term pastoral care and to strengthen the congregation. He started in October, 2006, and the church is responding to his care, and growing. But he is retired, and when we suggested he should take a couple of breaks during his two years, he and his wife agreed. So we will be filling in for them for six weeks; he has returned to his home in Arkansas for this time.
There are two congregations at the Bukit Doa Church, an Indonesian congregation that worships at 7:30 a.m., and our English service at 10:00. All of the Indonesian congregations worship at either 7:30 or 8:00 on Sunday morning; it is much cooler! There is another English language service at the Legian Church, also with both an Indonesian and English service.
Both the Bukit Doa and Legian churches are only 2 of the 73 churches of The Protestant Christian Churches of Bali, (GKPB). The pastor at Legian is Ed and Marylyn Seine. They are retired and live in Indiana. This is their first time in the VIM (Volunteer in Ministry) program and they just arrived the first of May. So I have been"showing them the ropes". They are a great couple, so it has been fun.
On Thursday I introduced them to the MBM, the mission outreach of the GKPB. MBM has a number of programs; there is a medical team that has clinics in several locations, agriculture division that helps farmers with pigs, cattle and some rice farming. They have an experimental plot for organic rice. They help people set up small business (really small: for instance a sewing machine so a housewife can help with household expenses). A step up from this program is a small bank to help people who have some credit rating, again to make loans. All of these loans require a business plan and are carefully supervised so they will succeed. They have a shelter for women who suffer domestic violence.
On Friday we took a long trip, total of about 11 hours, to the western end of Bali to visit Blimbingsari. This was the first Christian village in Bali, established in 1938. The church in the village is considered the "mother church" of the GKPB. On Friday they were making preparations for Sunday services by setting up extra tents around the sanctuary. Pentecost is a national holiday for Christians, so family members, children, grandchildren and those who have moved away from Blimbingsari return on special holidays, like Pentecost. They have a normal congregation of 300, but they were expecting 700 additional visitors for Pentecost Sunday.
Two of the seven orphanages of the GKPB are in Blimbingsari, one for elementary age children, one for middle school age. We visited both of them, and at the middle school orphanage we found 10 Australians working. They were from several Baptist Churches in Western Australia, and had been at the orphanage all week. They helped remodel a boy's dorm and paint it. In the past year they also had a fund raiser in their churches to build an addition to the girl's dorm. These are welcome changes to the facilities; they look much better than they did a year ago when I was there.
Saturday was fairly quiet; Rev. Priana, the General Secretary of the Synod, called and wanted to stop by our place at the hotel. He had a young Indonesian couple with him from one of the village churches. They live in this area now and have a six year-old autistic girl. He was giving pastoral care, and wanted to have prayer together for the child.
Today was my second Sunday at the church. It has been good seeing many of the familiar faces, and getting acquainted with some of the new members. We also had the ten-Australian work team with us; they had come back to this area on Saturday. Also a German pastor, Rev. Bertold Dowery, that we have known from previous visits. He has been in Indonesia as a missionary and teacher for 30 or 40 years. He brought two visitors from Germany. It was good seeing him again and meeting his guests.
The Bukit Doa Church was built in 1998, so both the Indonesian and English language congregations started at the same time. The Indonesian congregation is approaching 1,000 in membership; our English congregation has been averaging 50 since Rev. Solberg arrived. Rev. Eka, the Indonesian pastor, called yesterday to warn me that they might not be finished by our 10:00 worship time. It was Pentecost Sunday; they were receiving new members and having three baptisms. He was right; it was a little after 10:00 when they finished, so 10:30 by the time we started.
One of the Indonesian music groups of about ten were scheduled to stay and have special music for us today. The Australian work party had been working on a song in Indonesian all week to share with us. The two girls visiting from Germany were going to sing in German, they practiced in the car on the way to church, and then decided they would not. Nevertheless, with the visitors, the late start, only my second Sunday with this order of worship all added up to a good morning, but I was exhausted by the time I got home!
Hiroko arrives this Thursday. It will be good to have her here. I am getting tired of the greeting, "Hi how are you WHERE IS HIROKO??!"
Keep us in your thoughts and prayers, you remain in ours.
Hiroko & Lyle
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Thoughts on Pentecost
Hi friends:
We haven't really seen any action here on the old blog site, but I'm thinking we might post sermons on here, rather than on the website. Then members and friends can debate and discuss just like we do Sunday mornings!
Pentecost is coming up and I'm thinking of the new book Unbinding the Gospel. The focus of evangelism, the author says, is faith-sharing.
After he received the Holy Spirit, Peter stood up in the temple and started preaching. The content of that sermon seems to have been the core of the early church's preaching. But the drama of that particular moment was not just in the sermon, but in the strangeness of bumbling, misspeaking Peter preaching boldly, powerfully and clearly, even as Jesus himself did, with real authority.
Acts seems to suggest that the Holy Spirit delivers authority. The scandal is that ordinary people who open themselves to Christ are literally made one with the living God. The question in my mind, as a mainline pastor, is just how this Holy Spirit is given.
I believe that the Christian discipline practiced and taught by Jesus (prayer, worship, the study of scripture , repentance, reconciliation and generosity, to name a few) are a way to open ourselves to the gift of the Holy Spirit. When we practice all of these disciplines as the chief principles and values of our lives, we empty ourselves, as it were, of all competing powers and spirits that may rule us. This prepares us for God to offer us his Spirit.
Peter had to go down a long road before God gave him this Spirit. Even Paul, whom we think of as having a sudden conversion, not only had lived his life until that point as a deeply faithful and observant Jew (far more conversant in scripture at the time of his conversion than most of us are after a lifetime of church membership), and Paul still had to undergo instruction in Damascus before he received the Spirit.
I don't wish to delimit God. God can and does bestow his Spirit freely to whomever he chooses. But it my experience and my reading of the scriptures that suggest that most of us have a lot of work to do before that gift is given.
Martha Grace Reese makes the excellent point that sharing faith clearly cannot happen if we don't have a faith to share. I would understand faith as the condition in which we find ourselves when we receive the Holy Spirit. Faith becomes the foundation of our lives with a connection to God, an almost scandalous connection, that gives us real power to say what God wants said.
For many mainline churchgoers, faith is more a set of values, and the scriptural stories simple moral myths designed to teach us to love and be fair. But this story of Acts speaks of things deeper than values. It speaks of possession by an unseen Spirit that gives us power we did not have before.
Let's hear some comments!
Peace,
Mike
We haven't really seen any action here on the old blog site, but I'm thinking we might post sermons on here, rather than on the website. Then members and friends can debate and discuss just like we do Sunday mornings!
Pentecost is coming up and I'm thinking of the new book Unbinding the Gospel. The focus of evangelism, the author says, is faith-sharing.
After he received the Holy Spirit, Peter stood up in the temple and started preaching. The content of that sermon seems to have been the core of the early church's preaching. But the drama of that particular moment was not just in the sermon, but in the strangeness of bumbling, misspeaking Peter preaching boldly, powerfully and clearly, even as Jesus himself did, with real authority.
Acts seems to suggest that the Holy Spirit delivers authority. The scandal is that ordinary people who open themselves to Christ are literally made one with the living God. The question in my mind, as a mainline pastor, is just how this Holy Spirit is given.
I believe that the Christian discipline practiced and taught by Jesus (prayer, worship, the study of scripture , repentance, reconciliation and generosity, to name a few) are a way to open ourselves to the gift of the Holy Spirit. When we practice all of these disciplines as the chief principles and values of our lives, we empty ourselves, as it were, of all competing powers and spirits that may rule us. This prepares us for God to offer us his Spirit.
Peter had to go down a long road before God gave him this Spirit. Even Paul, whom we think of as having a sudden conversion, not only had lived his life until that point as a deeply faithful and observant Jew (far more conversant in scripture at the time of his conversion than most of us are after a lifetime of church membership), and Paul still had to undergo instruction in Damascus before he received the Spirit.
I don't wish to delimit God. God can and does bestow his Spirit freely to whomever he chooses. But it my experience and my reading of the scriptures that suggest that most of us have a lot of work to do before that gift is given.
Martha Grace Reese makes the excellent point that sharing faith clearly cannot happen if we don't have a faith to share. I would understand faith as the condition in which we find ourselves when we receive the Holy Spirit. Faith becomes the foundation of our lives with a connection to God, an almost scandalous connection, that gives us real power to say what God wants said.
For many mainline churchgoers, faith is more a set of values, and the scriptural stories simple moral myths designed to teach us to love and be fair. But this story of Acts speaks of things deeper than values. It speaks of possession by an unseen Spirit that gives us power we did not have before.
Let's hear some comments!
Peace,
Mike
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Holy Week Reflections
Hi friends:
I'm just getting ready to dig into the first draft of my Palm Sunday sermon and it occurred to me to put a few thoughts down on the old blog site. Maybe we might get into some theological conversations here.
I just read a story about a strange man at a museum who stood very close to every painting he looked at, about an inch away from the canvas, and studied every single detail with care. When everyone else trying to see the paintings became irritated with him, he told them they couldn't appreciate the paintings unless they studied them very closely.
Of course, we know that this man probably was missing the real point of all of those paintings. By focussing so closely on details, he lost sight of the larger pattern. It's really another version of "missing the forest for the trees."
It seems to me that a lot of Christians are dazzled by teachers and preachers who get into intense detail about their biblical interpretations. They quote little verses one after another and do long-winded studies of single words or phrases. But the big picture either gets lost, or worse, is made up by the teacher and imposed on the "detailed" study. And these teachers and preachers sound so convincing!
But the upshot is that most believers I know seem to have preconceived ideas about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit that they impose on every story or lesson they hear from the bible, without ever having really looked at the big picture of the biblical story. They presume that the "theology" they have been taught over the years represents the true biblical witness and regard each passage or story as fitting into it in some way.
Some have said that the gospels are each just preludes to the Passion ("passion" refers to the arrest, trial, torture and execution of Jesus). In all four, the Passion is the longest moment-by-moment narrative. There are many elements to the story, but they are all connected, and there is meant to emerge a great pattern, a main idea. Yet too often, we get focussed on the details to the point that we miss the great pattern.
I wonder at this story. It seems to reach into places within us that are ineffable. It defies speech. You read it (or better, hear it), and you think, "there's nothing I can say."
But of course, we must say something. The thing that emerges for me when I stand back from this great work of God is first of all just that: it is all a work of God. I am awe-struck that even the evil that is done emerges from structures put in place by God. I am amazed at how God brought about the person Jesus, his Son, quite literally through the centuries-long development of a whole nation in which such a man could finally be raised and shaped.
What I see is a kind of beautifully-wrought trap. By setting God above the powers and principalities of the world, Jesus drew upon himself the wrath of every one of them. Of course, these powers and principalities were themselves created by God, and in themselves are perfectly good and lawful. What Christ exposed through his ministry was the human corruption of these institutions, which itself is the great problem of the whole bible.
What gives the powers and principalities their potency is the threat of violence, particulary legitimate violence. However the justice system was perverted in this story, all the proceedings are basically legal. Even the motives of the Jewish religious leaders are laudable; they wish to protect the majority from repercussions from the Romans that might arise from Jesus' intemperate remarks about God's rule.
And so it is that the powers and principalities rush in to do what they have the God-given power to do: to torture and kill Jesus the Christ. They do it all by the book, however brutal it may appear to us.
What they don't realize is that this is precisely what God expects and plans for them to do. He's been preparing Israel (and the rest of the world) for this moment from the time he called Abram and told him to "get up." The wonder and the awe for me comes from the realization that these powers, all of them under the rule of hasatan (the accuser) who himself fully expects to trap all of humankind in the ultimate crime, are tricked into coming to a service of worship at the foot of the cross.
And so it was that one of the centurions who killed him said, "Truly this man was the Son of God."
By bringing the whole world and all of its powers to this moment, God brings them, against their will, under the forgiving power of his Son. His innocent Son (St. John's "lamb who was slain") suddenly has the power, the right, and the responsibility to forgive. And as the good son of God, he does not disappoint. "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do."
And so God in Jesus Christ set into motion and unstoppable train. This ineffable thing, this "kingdom," about which we still know so little, is unfolding, and nothing anyone can do can stop it. Hasatan (the devil) is hoisted by his own petard. Everything he does now merely brings the blessing of forgiveness.
For none of us really know what we do.
Weigh in, won't you?
Peace,
Mike
I'm just getting ready to dig into the first draft of my Palm Sunday sermon and it occurred to me to put a few thoughts down on the old blog site. Maybe we might get into some theological conversations here.
I just read a story about a strange man at a museum who stood very close to every painting he looked at, about an inch away from the canvas, and studied every single detail with care. When everyone else trying to see the paintings became irritated with him, he told them they couldn't appreciate the paintings unless they studied them very closely.
Of course, we know that this man probably was missing the real point of all of those paintings. By focussing so closely on details, he lost sight of the larger pattern. It's really another version of "missing the forest for the trees."
It seems to me that a lot of Christians are dazzled by teachers and preachers who get into intense detail about their biblical interpretations. They quote little verses one after another and do long-winded studies of single words or phrases. But the big picture either gets lost, or worse, is made up by the teacher and imposed on the "detailed" study. And these teachers and preachers sound so convincing!
But the upshot is that most believers I know seem to have preconceived ideas about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit that they impose on every story or lesson they hear from the bible, without ever having really looked at the big picture of the biblical story. They presume that the "theology" they have been taught over the years represents the true biblical witness and regard each passage or story as fitting into it in some way.
Some have said that the gospels are each just preludes to the Passion ("passion" refers to the arrest, trial, torture and execution of Jesus). In all four, the Passion is the longest moment-by-moment narrative. There are many elements to the story, but they are all connected, and there is meant to emerge a great pattern, a main idea. Yet too often, we get focussed on the details to the point that we miss the great pattern.
I wonder at this story. It seems to reach into places within us that are ineffable. It defies speech. You read it (or better, hear it), and you think, "there's nothing I can say."
But of course, we must say something. The thing that emerges for me when I stand back from this great work of God is first of all just that: it is all a work of God. I am awe-struck that even the evil that is done emerges from structures put in place by God. I am amazed at how God brought about the person Jesus, his Son, quite literally through the centuries-long development of a whole nation in which such a man could finally be raised and shaped.
What I see is a kind of beautifully-wrought trap. By setting God above the powers and principalities of the world, Jesus drew upon himself the wrath of every one of them. Of course, these powers and principalities were themselves created by God, and in themselves are perfectly good and lawful. What Christ exposed through his ministry was the human corruption of these institutions, which itself is the great problem of the whole bible.
What gives the powers and principalities their potency is the threat of violence, particulary legitimate violence. However the justice system was perverted in this story, all the proceedings are basically legal. Even the motives of the Jewish religious leaders are laudable; they wish to protect the majority from repercussions from the Romans that might arise from Jesus' intemperate remarks about God's rule.
And so it is that the powers and principalities rush in to do what they have the God-given power to do: to torture and kill Jesus the Christ. They do it all by the book, however brutal it may appear to us.
What they don't realize is that this is precisely what God expects and plans for them to do. He's been preparing Israel (and the rest of the world) for this moment from the time he called Abram and told him to "get up." The wonder and the awe for me comes from the realization that these powers, all of them under the rule of hasatan (the accuser) who himself fully expects to trap all of humankind in the ultimate crime, are tricked into coming to a service of worship at the foot of the cross.
And so it was that one of the centurions who killed him said, "Truly this man was the Son of God."
By bringing the whole world and all of its powers to this moment, God brings them, against their will, under the forgiving power of his Son. His innocent Son (St. John's "lamb who was slain") suddenly has the power, the right, and the responsibility to forgive. And as the good son of God, he does not disappoint. "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do."
And so God in Jesus Christ set into motion and unstoppable train. This ineffable thing, this "kingdom," about which we still know so little, is unfolding, and nothing anyone can do can stop it. Hasatan (the devil) is hoisted by his own petard. Everything he does now merely brings the blessing of forgiveness.
For none of us really know what we do.
Weigh in, won't you?
Peace,
Mike
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Cornelia Kennard and Joy Brooks
Shortly after the death of Iva Yates, Cornelia died, and a week later, Joy. Makes for a hard winter for our Philippi family.
We're going to miss Cornelia's smile and Joy's great sense of fun. Our hearts go out to Jimmy and June and Buddy and Sissy and David.
At the same time, Philippi's worship attendance in January averaged 76. This is a 14% increase over last January! This last Sunday, February 18, we had 88 in church. January and February have typically been very quiet, low attendance months at Philippi. Something is happening!
I struggled with a cold during my vacation, and now I'm on my third day of fever. I'll be at our Ash Wednesday service tonight, but I'm not getting much else done. Love to hear from any and all of you!
Peace,
Mike
We're going to miss Cornelia's smile and Joy's great sense of fun. Our hearts go out to Jimmy and June and Buddy and Sissy and David.
At the same time, Philippi's worship attendance in January averaged 76. This is a 14% increase over last January! This last Sunday, February 18, we had 88 in church. January and February have typically been very quiet, low attendance months at Philippi. Something is happening!
I struggled with a cold during my vacation, and now I'm on my third day of fever. I'll be at our Ash Wednesday service tonight, but I'm not getting much else done. Love to hear from any and all of you!
Peace,
Mike
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