Ash Wednesday Homily

I had the pleasure of preaching tonight at AUMC's Ash Wednesday Service. Below is the outline of the homily. I hope your Ash Wednesday was God-haunted!

Ash Wednesday Homily
February 25th, 2009

Three thoughts about death. Depending upon your sense of humor, you might find some of them funny!

1. Ryan’s story: On the Florida/Georgia Border a farmer has painted a large sing that hangs next to the interstate that says: “Welcome to Florida! State mortality rate: 100%”
2. Your sign on the dorm room door in college that I now recant as bad theology: “Don’t take these things too seriously, no one gets out of here alive anyway.”
3. “Memento Mori”: a Roman way of reminding the greats that they are only human.

I. Death

Just like the Ancient Romans, we remember our own mortality tonight.

No matter how good you are at what you do, love, good shape you are in: you will die.

It is an inevitable part of life. We are mortal, we do not live forever.

God made us from dust, breathed the breath of life into us and it is to dust that we will return. We are truly humble creatures in this respect.

That is why you will have the option of dust placed on your forehead tonight.

From dust you came and from dust you will return.

II. Sin

We also remember tonight and during this season of Lent that we are sinful people, that we are broken.

We don’t like to recognize, nonetheless talk about our sin, because it’s embarrassing, hurtful, perhaps humiliating.

But recognize it we must. Because this is what sin does:

Sin dis-integrates our life with God.

In the very beginning of the Bible we see the perfect picture of what life with God is like: God made us to partners with God in tending to God’s creation, to be helpers, stewards, caretakers.

But our sin causes us to push ourselves away from God.

It is important to note that God NEVER leaves us because of our sin! God’s grace is always radically present in us in the form of previent grace.

You see, God has dreams for God’s creation; God has hopes and plans for you, and for the world. But when we sin, we take what God has planned for us and we remove ourselves from it.

We dis-integrate our lives. God calls to be a part of what God is doing in the world, to live a fully open and integrated life that partners with God. When we sin, we push ourselves away from God.

And so, we must acknowledge our sin because our sin is devastating us. Whether our sins are personal or corporate or both, they are keeping us from being fully apart of what God is doing, right here and right now in the world!

III. Metanoia

That is why we God heard through the prophet Joel calling the people of Israel to return to God.

One of the most important words in the New Testament is from the Greek language and the word is Metanoia.
We often translate that in English to the word “repent.” But metanoia means more than just repentance: it means a fundamental change of mind, a reorientation, and a transformation of outlook and of life.

We are called tonight to metanoia: to leave behind the roads that lead us to a dis-integrated life with God and to choose new life, and new paths and new ways of being.

We must recognize our sin, the things that keep us from living fully in God’s plan for our lives and then we must turn away from them and lead lives that integrate our story with God’s story.

During this season of Lent we have the opportunity to try to lay the things that hold us down, that keep us from being truly free to love God and our neighbor, to the side, and to embrace life-giving and freeing practice.

That’s why some people things up for Lent. The spiritual discipline is that you give up something that is not good for you in order to spend time with God and embrace practices that lead to life.

Our worship tonight is not supposed to be fun, but rather solemn. And that can be a tough thing for us. But, it is necessary to truly walk with Christ on a day-to-day basis. For if we don’t acknowledge our mortality and our sin, and our need to turn to new life then the grace that we claim to receive is cheap grace.

We want to move right to Easter but new birth requires death. It requires it. In order for us to take the joy of Easter seriously, we have to take the rest of the story seriously as well.

IV. The Cross

Tonight we will impose ash on your foreheads, if you wish. But we won’t impose in just any old way.

We will make the sign of the cross on you. Because death and sin isn’t all there is!

There is so much more, because our hope as followers of Christ is that, Jesus, through his life, death, resurrection sending forth and ascension has defeated death, sin, and the powers and principalities!

God wins! God is in the business of making all things new! God’s ultimate plans for God’s creation, including you and me, cannot be ultimately defeated!

And, so, even in recognizing our own mortality, our sin, and our need to be reintegrating our lives into God’s Life, we proclaim that God loves us and that God is making all things new!

So during this season of Lent, remember that you are a mortal being. Remember that we are called to live justly and righteously, and that our faith should impact how we life on everyday basis.

Won’t you turn from the things that hold you down and embrace the way to life and freedom in Christ?

God has made you for wonderful good things. God has plans for you, God has ministry for you to do. Because God loves you, God loves you so much that He doesn’t want leave you the way you are. But rather wants you to become what God made you to be: fully human, fully alive, fully free, and fully integrated into a life with God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

In the name of the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Sustainer, may it be so. Amen.

Going to see Branford tonight!

Tonight, Branford Marsalis is playing with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and I am headed there to check it out! Branford Marsalis is one of the leading saxophonists of our generation. I have loved and admired his playing for years. He can play in seemingly every style, from classical (tonight he is playing, among other things, the Glazanouv Saxophone Concerto, which is one of my favorite works for saxophone) to straight-ahead jazz, to funk, to rock with Sting! That's the kind of musician I aspire to be! The concerto that he is playing tonight is lovely! I had the opportunity to learn it and play it in undergrad. Rare is the time when a saxophonist can attend the symphony and have played the concerto is on the bill!

The Most Recent Soul Cafe

Two days in a row! Watch out! This posting thing could become a habit!

Three Sunday's ago we held another Soul Cafe worship experience at Argyle UMC. This time around the choir led the congregation in a choral evensong. My lecture notes are below. If you'd like to see the ordo, leave a comment and I'll send it to you!

Soul Café
A Choral Evensong
January 25th, 2009

I. Prayer and Worship
• “(worship is) the glorification of God and the sanctification of humanity.”
--Pope Pius X, 1903
• “setting forth of God’s honor or glory and to the reducing of the people to a most perfect and Godly living.”
--Archbishop Thomas Cranmer

II. Two Traditions of Corporate Worship
a. Lord’s Day Services (from the earliest days of the Jesus movement we find examples of Christians meeting on Sundays. We see Paul in both Acts and 1st Corinthians participating in and encouraging services on Sunday.)
b. Benedict’s Daily Office (also used in a modified form for personal devotion time and is a complement to the Sunday service)

III. St. Benedict and the Daily Office
St. Benedict’s Daily Office
(circa early 500’s—Vatican II)
• Vespers-end of the workday
• Compline—before sleep
• Nocturnes (Vigils, Matins)—middle of the night (midnight and three a.m., respectively)
• Lauds—sunrise
• Prime—early morning
• Terce—mid-morning
• Sext—noon
• None—mid-afternoon
• In the Benedictin model, the entire Psalter was read once a week. Post-Vatican II is was read once a month

IV. The Liturgy of the Hours
• Morning and Evening Prayer are primary!
• In addition to its use in monasticism and in certain denominational services, the Liturgy of the Hours is often used as a private devotional time now.



V. Thoughts and Practices from John and Charles Wesley
• As Anglican Priests, John and Charles Wesley were very familiar (and both practiced) morning and evening prayer, as Thomas Cranmer had combined matins, lauds and prime in Matins as well as putting vespers and compline into Evensong in the 1549 Book of Common Prayer.
• John Wesley believed that daily prayer was such an important spiritual discipline that in 1733 he complied his “A Collection of Forms of Prayer for Every Day of the Week.”
• This text has been updated to modern English by David A. deSilva and is available at Cokesbury.

VI. How do we organize our daily prayer life?

• The daily office?
• The Psalms?
• The Upper Room? (founded at Travis Park UMC)
• One hour a day as well as writing down our confession?
• John Wesley’s and the Church of England’s indications?
• The Didache (and early Church manual, circa 100, that contains orders of worship and instructions by baptism, communion, and the Christian lifestyle) tells us to pray the Lord’s Prayer Three times a day.

VII. Tonight’s Worship Experience

VIII. Song Practice

IX. Web resource
• The daily office online: www.apostleschurch.org/spirituality_daily.php
• Daily Lectionary www.pcusa.org/lectionary/

A few random thoughts for a this Sunday

This is a strange sensation for me! I am more prepared than usual on a Sunday morning and am finding myself with 15 minutes of free time before worship begins! Crazy! So, a few quick thoughts before I head out to visit with folks (which I should be doing instead of blogging right now).

1. I've somehow managed to spill hot coffee into my left eye this morning (don't ask), which, while painful, has washed the irritant that was previously lodged in my eye, out!

2. Tonight I get to go to a John Bell BIG SING, which is one of the greatest things in the entire world! If you ever get a chance to participate in one, don't miss it!

3. Radiohead, B.B. King, John Mayer, Coldplay, U2, etc. all performing at the Grammy's tonight! Thank goodness for dvr!

4. I read in the paper yesterday that the number of suicides in the U.S. Military eclipsed the number of those killed in combat in January. There is so much to be said about this, from the actual task of being a soldier to the lack of appropriate transition procedures to pastoral care for veterans, the list goes on and on. Terrible.

5. Even in the midst of darkness, God is faithful.

Have a blessed Sunday!

The blog is not dead!

Yeah, I've been neglecting the blog. Sorry about that! The last few weeks have been crazy! I've been to Buda, Texas, where I had the privilege of working with the Buda UMC Praise Band and catching up with the amazing Paul Harper and Teresa Wellborn, leading a Soul Cafe, working at the church, of course, checking out Dmin opportunities and attending Ministers Week at Perkins. Minsters Week this year is excellent! Karen Ward, Doug Pagitt, Tom Sine, Elaine Heath and Mark Stamm are a few of the amazing speakers that we've heard so far: tomorrow is the last day. I feel right at home!
Some of today's content is really challenging me to re-think the idea of "programming." More and more I am becoming convinced that I need to build the worship, music, and the arts ministries at Argyle through organic means. I will hopefully write more about that later!
I am also going to re-ignite our liturgy guild. The time has come!
I hope life is treating you well, if any one still reads this blog! Have a great few days!
Joe

Last Sunday's Sermon

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to preach as my poor senior pastor got a bad case of the flu on Saturday night. The phone rang at 6:30 Sunday morning and so I had to scramble! The manuscript below is what I preached from on Sunday. I figured the John text was an acceptable bridge piece coming out of Epiphany as we head towards Lent.
Well, back to my new U2 station on Pandora.com
Have a great day!

Melody and Countermelody: John 1:1-18

Let us pray: Gracious God, Lord of all Creation and author of all good things, open our hearts, our ears, and our minds to your Word this morning. I ask that your Spirit might run amongst your people, that we might be able to see your love for us in new ways and so that we might be about taking your Light into a dark world, as we leave this church a changed people. God, may the words of my mouth and the mediations of my heart be pleasing to you. If they be your words, let them be long remembered, if they are not, please let them be quickly forgotten. Let all of God’s children say: Amen!
This morning I want to share with you the most famous of all Christian poems, the prologue to the Gospel of John. Normally, I would ask you to open your Bibles and read along with me but our passage for this morning was originally a hymn! It’s meant to be sung first and read second. So I pray that you will open your ears, your hearts, and your minds to hear what God has to say to you this morning, because, make no mistake about it, God has a word in this passage of Scripture for you!
Read John 1:1-18
I love those words, don’t you? Parts of the passage are really stunning poetry. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Beautiful, hopeful words. These words are poetic and confessional, but more than that, they draw me, and I hope you, into mystery, awe, contemplation, and worship. The light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not overcome it.
The great preacher and author, Fredrick Buechner, along with many Johannine scholars (that is, those who study The Gospel of John for a living) have pointed out that, in essence, there are two voices speaking in this passage. I hope you’ll forgive the musician in me but to put it in musical terms; there is a melody and a counter-melody here. One voice speaks with beautiful poetry, singing for us lines of stunning theological beauty, while the other voices tends to interrupt that poetry with commentary. This morning we are going to look at these two voices and what they might be singing to us today.
At the very beginning of the Gospel, the voice of the poet is asking his community to sing some amazing claims! John the Evangelist, the one for whom the Gospel of John is named, is telling us who Jesus is and asking us to sing it! He asks us to affirm with our voices that the Word, before the universe was formed, was with God. More than that, he asks us to proclaim that Jesus is the incarnation of God and that not one thing came into being without the Word! He asks us to sing that Jesus brought not only light into the world in his human form but that he also brought true life, eternal life, with him, for all of the people of the world. Jesus is God’s Word! John is telling us something about Jesus that is very significant: Jesus is more than just a good guy, more than just an excellent moralist, more than just a person who was born, lived his beliefs to the fullest and was killed because of them, Jesus is the incarnation of God! Jesus is Lord, Jesus is King! Without the Word none of us comes into being, according to John. I find this to be beautiful, amazing, and, in my darker hours, a hard thing to sing! But sing them I do, because I believe them and I have experienced it. Have you?
In the original Greek, the term used for the Word is Logos. The poetic voice from John claims that Jesus was the Logos. In Greek thought, the Logos was the divine principle of reason that gives order to the universe and links the human mind to the mind of God. So this claim, that Jesus was the Logos, would be an incredible, almost incomprehensible statement in the fluid Hellenistic worldview of the time. Many of you may struggle to believe this as well.
For many of us, this is where wrestling with faith, tradition, Scripture, and reason come in. I can tell you that I believe this because I have had a great many experiences in my life where I have known God is a personal, vibrant way. I grew up in and have studied the traditions of the church, that is the incarnated body of Christ, that show me that, throughout the course of human history, I am not alone in my experience of God. The Scriptures tell me many stories of God and of what God is like. I reason that all of this together has allowed me to accept and proclaim what John is asking of us here.
The amazing piece of all of this is that God chose to condescend, that is to say God chose to take on human form so that God could be in relationship with us, so that God could love us in a more complete way, and so that God could show us how to live so that the Reign of God could come about on earth. Jesus is the bringer of LIFE, something more than just life. He is our shining example of God, because he is God. Jesus shows us what God is like, what God is about, how God loves us, and what God desires for us and of us. Can you imagine it? Have you experienced the state of knowing that God loves you so much, that God would take human form out of love for you and for God’s creation?
Because God desires us to be in relationship with God, and to be reconciled with our Creator, God became human so that God could reveal Godself fully to us. It is amazing, isn’t it?
The second voice jumps in next, the voice of one who seeks to clarify. Here, in verse 6, we hear a voice that is far less poetic and much more practical. This voice tells us that John the Baptist came “as a witness to testify to the light.” Clearly, there must have been some controversy in the latter part of the first century between those who followed John and those who followed Jesus. The controversy must have been such that John the Evangelist needed to address who was who and what was what. The author is telling us that John the Baptist was not the light, that Jesus was and is the light, and there should be no mistaking the two!
Certainly, in our lives we experience similar challenges, don’t we? There are so many good things in life to believe in, so many wonderful places to put our faith, our trust, our lives, and the lives of others. The most immediate example I can think of for me is The ONE Campaign. I’ve even got my ONE Campaign wristband on. I contribute to their work and try to participate however I can. They are advocates for what I believe are the two biggest challenges facing humanity today: extreme global poverty and HIV/AIDS. The ONE Campaign is trying to unite Americans with one voice against global poverty and AIDS with the hope of eradicating both in our lifetimes. The campaign brings together people from across barriers that are usually insurmountable. Both George Clooney and Pat Robertson are members, if you can believe that! The General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church is on-board with The ONE Campaign. I love not only what they are doing but also how they are doing it, and it would be easy for me to pour my life, my faith, and my resources into it, because it is a good thing!
The ONE Campaign is not, however, the greatest thing. It is merely good. It is an organization that is trying to improve life for the least of these and to spread a little light into the world. Jesus, on the other hand, the Logos, the Word of God, is the greatest! Jesus is not just trying to spread the light, Jesus is the LIGHT!!!!
I have to be honest with you, on my best days; I do what I do because I love Jesus. I live in this Christian Community because I love Jesus. My wife Sarah and I give money to the church because we love Jesus and the Scripture that Jesus commands us loved to do that. I know many of you get up on Sunday mornings and head to church for that exact reason. I know many of you go on mission trips, or teach Sunday School, or sing in the choir because you love Jesus. I know many of you do what you do out of love for Jesus.
On my worst days, however, I try to do the right things for the wrong reasons. On my worst days I try to do the right things out of a sense of duty, or out of a sense of, “it’s just the right thing to do.” As followers of Christ we are called to be a transforming and reconciling force in our world. So here’s the problem with acting with the wrong motivation: people are not transformed when you do something because it’s just the right thing to do. People are transformed because of an encounter with the living God! People are transformed because of the experience of the love of God given to them through others, so intentions matter! It’s important to do the right things for the right reasons! We must be vigilant and prayerful for it is easy to lose the Logos in the everyday things of the world.
In verse twelve the poetic voice jumps back in here with the pronouncement that to all who receive Jesus, to all who believe in his name, than they are granted the power to become children of God, who are born of God. In essence, all who believe in Jesus Christ are given the gift of eternal life. This eternal life, though, doesn’t begin when you die, it begins now, in this life! It is the difference between life and LIFE!!!!
The passage concludes with our melody and countermelody bouncing off of one another. The poetic voice tells us that the Word became flesh and lived among us and that we have seen the glory of God’s only Son, full of grace and truth while the pragmatic voice reminds us that the Word is Jesus and not John. The poetic voice ends by telling us that, from Jesus, we have received grace upon grace. The earthy voice reminds us that the law came through Moses while grace and truth came through Jesus Christ and that no one has seen God but that it is through Jesus that God is fully revealed.
John gives us the basic essence of Jesus’ life and mission on earth in these 18 verses. Do you see what this mission is predicated upon? All of this, all that we have remembered in the Advent and Christmas Seasons, and what we will remember in Lent and Holy Week and finally Easter, as we trace the life of Jesus Christ, all of this came about because of love!
Only love would make a deity do this! Only the desire to be in relationship with us would make a deity come to earth! Instead of wiping us out and starting over (something God had been known to do in the past) God chose to sacrifice, to come to us, to love us, to teach us a better way to live, and to begin to reclaim God’s creation through Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, and through us, one person, one system, one creature at a time. Jesus, God, did all of this out of love!!!!
Can you fathom that kind of love, that you would give up everything for a relationship?
I pray that we all can recognize the light, that we can be with the light, and that we will not let the darkness overcome us! With Jesus, we can fight back the darkness!
Many of you have lived through darkness, you’ve walked through the shadow of the valley of death, and many of you have dwelled in that valley for years. But Jesus, Jesus has been there to! Jesus cannot be overcome by the darkness, for Jesus is the light of the world! The Light of the Universe cannot be overcome by darkness!!!!!!! See the light, love the light, work with the light, and do not let the darkness overcome you!!!!!
I have prayers for you and I pray for you! I pray that you will look for the light in your life and in the lives of others. I pray that you will merge your life with the LIFE that only Jesus can offer you. I pray that you, with the help of God, will fight back the darkness in your light and that together, you and I can fight the darkness in this world and seek to spread the light of Christ to a world that desperately needs to see the light of Jesus made visible in us! Friends, we have light to offer the world! We have grace to extend to God’s creation. It is our responsibility to do this! Moreover, it is our honor and pleasure to send grace and love out into the world. People of Argyle United Methodist Church, children of God, please don’t hide your light under a bushel basket this year! Let us join together to bring more light, more peace, and more of God’s grace to the world! Let us be the hands and feet of Christ, restored and redeemed and ever seeking to be partners in helping bring about the Reign of God in the world!
Let all of God’s children say, Amen!

What a weekend!

I can't believe it's been almost a week since I last posted, oh wait, yes I can! Seriously, you would think as a musician I would be much more disciplined!

I intended to post several times over the weekend about some of the worship things I've been doing but the last few weekends were so full that I decided to spend more time with the family.

Two weekends ago I had the pleasure of leading two contemplative worship experiences at the Perkins School of Youth Ministry. I lead a Taize service that lasted a little less than an hour and then set-up our worship environment with prayer stations for a forty minute session. I've been told it was well-received but I look forward to getting the evaluation sheets back. Following those experiences we had a very informal "mini-lecture" about the afternoon's worship (I took a mystagogical approach, for those of you keeping score at home) and then we closed with communion, celebrated wonderfully by the Rev. Marti Soper.

One of the most interesting moments for me in that entire experience involved the music during the prayer stations. I got to be a dj! I created two different loops for the event and then interspersed them with the music of Aaron Parks, Brad Mehldau, and, when nearly everyone had left, I mixed in some Lauridsen and Branford Marsalis. What a blast! I look forward to our April Soul Cafe at AUMC when we will offer an alt worship experience.

At 6:30 a.m., Sunday morning, I got a call from my senior pastor saying that he had the flu, so I had the opportunity to preach four times yesterday, in addition to being a music minister, and also mixed in a children's choir rehearsal, some acolyte training, a brief praise band rehearsal, and I had the chance to play in the modern service!

Today I've had the great fortune to work on this weekend's worship, both the Sunday morning experience and the evening's Soul Cafe, where we will be offering a Choral Evensong led by our adult choir.

Tomorrow, is, well, of course, the inauguration! I also will be playing at the Denton Wesley Foundation's weekly worship service and giving a brief devotion.

What a great week!

I hope all is well in your world!

Until then, may we breathe peace and life into the world!

Seeds DO sprout

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the annual Dallas Chapter of the Choristers Guild Mid-Winter Conference and the greater pleasure of hearing Sid Davis, the minister of music at St. Luke's UMC in Houston, talk about youth choir. Much of what he said resonated with me but I have been pondering on this particular thought quite a bit: seeds do sprout.

In my experience, it's true. Seeds DO sprout.

As I keep in touch with folks from my previous churches I see seeds sprouting quite a bit! We all have those moments, don't we? We look back in our lives and see that some of the seeds we have sowed have sprouted.

My preoccupation of late has been with the seeds that will sprout that we will never see. As I currently serve in a growing church that is just starting to build an entire new campus and is in a thriving and growing area, as much as any area can grow in our current economy. I am aware that, if God deems it, we are in the process of building a church that could possibly be a light in this community for hundreds of years to come. I wonder, what seeds are we sowing now, what will they eventually become, and, more importantly, are they good seeds?

As of late a few of the works of van Gogh have been at work on me even more than usual. As I reflect on his life (especially when contrasting his works "The Sower" and "Wheat Field with Crows") I am so struck by the power of the idea that seeds DO sprout. We often won't be able to see the end result, however.

It is important to hold on and to trust in God's good grace.

Epiphany Sermon

I had a wonderful opportunity to preach three times this Sunday at Argyle UMC! It was a blast! I preached on the Wedding at Cana and Epiphany. In the early church Epiphany was the second most celebrated feast day (after Easter, of course) and the Wedding at Cana was one of the most frequently read stories in worship on Epiphany. Below you will find my outline for this past Sunday's sermon. Following the sermon we had an offertory and then we celebrated Holy Communion. I set-up two stations of votive candles with tapers and invited the congregation to light a candle of thanksgiving for where God's glory had broken into their lives in 2008.

Epiphany Sunday 2009
The Wedding at Cana
John 2:1-12

I. Explain Epiphany
• Christmas Decorations are still up and it’s January!
• Epiphany Sunday: the Last Sunday of the Christmas Cycle and the first Sunday of the Epiphany season
• In the early church this was the second most important feast day (the first being Easter)
• It’s important to not skip Epiphany because during the Epiphany, we celebrate more than just the birth of a baby.
• We celebrate the fact that the light of God, Jesus Christ, has made God’s love and God’s gift of salvation available to everyone and to all nations! No one, for any reason, is excluded from the opportunity to experience God’s incredible love and amazing grace.
• The early church loved, during the celebrations of Epiphany, to read in worship the story of the Wedding at Cana because in the story Jesus revealed his glory in the Gospel of John for the first time, his inaugural act, as it were!
• I’d like to share that story with you this morning. Before you hear this story, let us pray:

II. Read the Story
• What an incredibly rich story!
• We find Jesus and his disciples, along with his mother out at a big community event: a wedding!
• Jesus decides, after telling his mom he wouldn’t, for some reason unknown to us, decides to manifest his glory through making wine.
• And the wine: wow! We are not talking about two bottles of wine off the lowest shelf here! I did the math and, assuming 30 gallons, Jesus’ created 151.4 bottles of the best wine, that’s 12.5 cases in our time.
• The amount and quality of the wine is significant because, in the words of Gail O’Day, “in a culture of scarcity it represents the shattering of the boundaries of the conventional world, and the disciples become willing to entertain the possibility that this boundary breaking marks the inbreaking of God!”
• This miracle of turning water into wine, and into incredible wine in great abundance at that, shows us how deep and wide the grace of God is!
• And it also foreshadows for us how the world will be transformed though God’s amazing love and grace through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus!
• The miracle reveals God’s glory!

• It is also fascinating that, outside of the disciples, the only people who see the miracle and understand it for what it is are the servants, not the wedding party, not the host, but the servants.
• It reminds me of the Nativity Story: the first people to see the baby Jesus were the shepherds and not the wise men.
• Throughout the Bible, God chooses to be revealed in the most unexpected people and places. God most often chooses to reveal God’s glory to those on the margins of our societies.
• I wonder, if God continually chooses to be revealed on the margins of society, where would we be most likely to encounter the living God today?
• This question is worth considering, for it has significant implications.

III. Irenaeus
• But before you do that, I’d like to introduce you to a hero of our faith: Irenaeus.
• A pretty important guy: he was theologian/bishop that was born somewhere in the second century (between 115-142) in what is now Turkey, he was the second Bishop of Lyons France, and his teacher, Polycarp, was a student of John the Evangelist (the beloved Disciple), which means, Irenaeus was two generations removed from Jesus.
• Irenaeus is also important because he was one of the earliest champion’s of including what we now call the canonical Gospels in the Bible (which had not yet been formed in the way we have it now)
• “The glory of God is a human being fully alive!” Write it down in your notes.
• This is something to think about on this Epiphany Sunday, as we celebrate God’s glory being revealed through Jesus Christ, and then, through us!

IV. Becoming “fully alive”
• As followers of Christ, we are called to be fully alive, fully human, in order that we might become vessel’s for Christ’s glory to be made more and more manifest in us.
• So what does it look like, to be fully alive?
• Obviously, because God made us as beautiful and diverse creatures, we all look different when we are fully alive.
• But, I think we can see three areas that come of out the story of the Wedding at Cana that can point us in the right direction to becoming more fully alive.

1. Community (we are not meant to be alone)
• We are made for community! God does not want us to be alone
• It is not possible for us to become who God made us to be by ourselves. We have to do it together.
• There is an important concept that comes from Africa that can teach us in this matter.
• Ubuntu it is not really a translatable concept in English but it basically means, “I am because you are.”
• In other words: a person is a person through other persons (identity through community) the only way I can be all I am made to be is if you can be all you can be. If you are not fully you, than I cannot fully be me.
• We see this concept at work throughout Jesus’ entire ministry.
• Jesus calls each of us to work for the dignity and humanity of all people
• We must fight against the things that dehumanize others. We must fight against extreme poverty, torture, abuse, terror, and pandemics.
• In essence, by applying ubuntu to our lives we seek to follow the words of Jesus’ inaugural act of ministry in the gospel of Luke, where Jesus stood in the temple and preached the following words: Luke 4:18-19
• We are more fully alive when we are in community and when we are serving others.
o How can you be more engaged in this community in 2009? Join the choir, get in a Bible study, work with the children, go with the youth to the Martin Luther King Center in Denton. Get involved!

• Where is God calling you to serve this year? Maybe it’s working with AIDS Service of North Texas, or Spirit Horse, perhaps it’s working at Argyle food bank, maybe you are being called to advocate for peace and justice with your elected officials.
• How is God calling you to embrace your life by serving others?

2. Faith
• We see in the Gospel story that the disciples “believed.” The root for the word “believe” in Greek in this passage is pisteuo (pist yoo’ o) which means, “to place confidence in.”
• The disciples were placing their confidence in Jesus. These men, with the exception of John, the beloved disciple, would go on to eventually give their lives for Jesus, the one in whom they had placed confidence and trust.
• When we place our trust in something larger than ourselves it dictates how we live, and how we act.
• What are you placing your confidence in this year?
• In many respects that’s challenging question!
• How can we become more fully alive by contemplating what we place our confidence in?

3. Creative Practices (these give life)
• We need to embrace practices that give us life.
• For each of us these practices are different!
• Jesus made wine because it was necessary but also because wine can be a symbol of the celebration of life! Psalm 104 tells us that God gave us wine to gladden the human heart.
• Life-giving practices for some of us include cooking for others, or baking, or making music, some of you probably quilt; I think of our awesome banner team that is making beautiful new banners for our new sanctuary that will point us towards God.
• For some of us life-giving practices include working on your short game, or writing poetry.
• What do you do in your life on a weekly basis that is creative and enriches your life?
• The very first thing we learn about God in the Bible is that God is creative. We are made in God’s image and therefore we are inherently creative beings.
• I challenge you to find something in your life that you can do on a weekly basis to help you become more fully alive, because, the glory of God is a human being fully alive!

Community, Faith that leads to Action, and Creative Practices are just a few of the things that help us become all that God has made us to be.

These things help us to claim the rich abundance that God has provided for us in the midst of times that are filled with talk of scarcity.

One of the practices that we have as a faith community is that of Holy Communion. As we celebrate it, we experience community, for we do it together! We experience faith, in that we put our trust in Jesus. And even if we can’t, we can still come up and receive God’s grace and our neighbor can proclaim our trust for us until we can claim for ourselves. And, we experience creativity in the music being played, the juice that was made for this meal, the liturgy, and the bread that was baked for this moment, we taste, we touch, we smell, we hear and we experience creativity.

Friends, we are called to celebrate a God who has intervened on our behalf! We are called to celebrate a God who continues to show light in the darkness. A God who has saved all that he created and a God who desires each and every one of us!

During the offertory time I would invite you to consider where God’s light has shown in your life this previous year. And, if you feel so moved, I would invite you to take a taper, and light a candle of thanksgiving to God for how God has been at work in your life.

Sisters and brothers, we are blessed: though we are broken, God will make us whole. Though the world can be filled with darkness, God’s light cannot be overcome. Though we may struggle with one another, God has given us the ministry and the power to be reconciled. God love us! Friends, God is good: all the time, all the time, God is good. Amen!

One other awesome Christmas Album!!!

I am a firm believer in celebrating the Christmas season to it's fullest, so if you roll by my neighborhood at night, I'll probably be the only guy with the Christmas lights going on January 6th! So, in that spirit, here's one more Christmas album recommendation. I don't know how this one escaped me: Bela Fleck and the Flecktones "Jingle All the Way." The album has plenty of excellent banjo, saxophone, bass, and drums, as you might imagine. But one of the real treats for me is hearing a Tuvan throat singer performing "Jingle Bells." I mean...wow!!!! Check out the "Jingle Bells (Reprise)" on iTunes and the Flecktones arrangement of the "Christmas Oratorio" by Bach. Incredible!

Christmas, Blogging Failures, and other thoughts

Christmas with a three year old is pure, unbridled joy! I saw pure joy on Christmas Day this year (Christmas Day is also my daughter's birthday and she turned three this year). Watching Ellie interact with all of the Christmas traditions that we are blending in our house was simply wonderful. Pure, pure joy!

Sorry about being so behind on posting during the Christmas season, it was very full this year with our worship services being at the high school! (On the whole, they went very well, btw.)

I am preaching this week on Epiphany and will be preaching on the Wedding at Cana. In the earliest church lectionaries the Wedding at Cana was one of the gospel readings for Epiphany. The Eastern Church has retained this reading while the Western Church has not. My contrarian nature rears it's ugly head again! :)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and yours!!!

O Antiphon's 2-4

Thursday's Antiphon: O WISDOM, who came forth from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from end to end, and ordering all things mightily and sweetly: Come, and teach us the way of prudence.

O come, thou Wisdom from on high, and order all things far and nigh; to us the path of knowledge show and cause us in her ways to go. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

Friday's Antiphon: O ADONAI and Leader of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the flames of the bush and gave him the law on Sinai: Come, and with your outstretched arm redeem us.

O come, O come, great Lord of might, who to thy tribes on Sinai's height in ancient times once gave the law in cloud and majesty and awe. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

Saturday's Antiphon: O ROOT OF JESSE, who stands for an ensign of the people, before whom kings shall keep silence and to whom the Gentiles shall make their supplication: Come, and deliver us and tarry not.

O come, thou Root of Jesse's tree, an ensign of thy people be; before thee rulers silent fall; all peoples on thy mercy call. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

"O Antiphon" 1

Since we are now seven days away from Christmas Eve, I hope you will consider joining me in praying the "O Antiphons"!

O Antiphon 1: O EMMANUEL, our King and Lawgiver, the Expected on the nations and their Savior: Come and save us, O Lord, our God.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

A Christmas Thought from Bonhoeffer

A thought on universal redemption from Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

"in the birth of Jesus Christ, God took on the form of all humanity, not just that of a single human being."

Truth from Parker Palmer and Henri Nouwen about community

Parker Palmer and Henri Nouwen are purveyors of truth: check out this quote from a speech Nouwen made to members of Fadica in 1994, the speech is called "Discovering Our Gift Through Service to Others":

"Parker Palmer, a spiritual writer of the Quaker tradition, says community is the place where the person you least want to live with always lives. So community is not like a place where you love each other sort of freely and warmly and affectionately. Community is in fact the place where you are purified, where your love is tested, where your childhood of God is constantly put through the mill of human relationships. That is what community is. Community is a place where Judas always is and sometimes it is just you."

I came across this quote from an excellent Advent devotional book called "Advent and Christmas Wisdom from Henri J.M. Nouwen" published by Redemptorist Pastoral Publications.

My new favorite quote (for today, anyway!)

This quote popped off the page at me several weeks ago as I was finishing a book called "A Heretic's Guide to Eternity" by Spencer Burke and Barry Taylor. I think it jumped out at me because it is profoundly true.

"The greatest tragedy of theology in the past three hundred years ahas been the divorce of the theologian from the poet, the dancer, the musician, the painter, the dramatist, the actress, the movie-maker..."
--MD. Chenu (a French Dominican Theologian who was very present at Vatican II)

My sad little Apple...

Wonders never cease! I thought my Mac was indestructible! As it turns out, it's not. The cd/dvd player/burner is no longer working. I can't believe it! This is terribly troubling to me, as the Mac is one of my closest collaborators and I don't know what I will do with out it for a few weeks if it has to go away to be serviced. single...tear...rolling...down...my...cheek...

A Beautiful Advent Poem

One of my favorite poet's is a very fine gentleman (who also happens to be a United Methodist Minister) named John Thornburg. He has written many wonderful poems, hymns, and anthem texts that can be found in all of the mainline hymnals. He recently sent out a poem for Advent this year and I asked him if I could post it on my blog. He graciously agreed! I found this poem to be a powerful reminder of my all-too-often complicity with the powers and principalities of this world. Thankfully, God's grace can help us turn from these things and embrace the life God wishes for us. What does it mean to you?


We want the rules to bend our way;
to fight a war but hear no cry,
to overeat and never die,
to burn the fuel but clean the sky.

Dominion is our favorite sport;
to claim whatever we can see,
to dictate our idea of 'free',
to do our business by decree.

We share this attitude with Rome,
with Herod, so emmeshed in lies
he could not fashion how the skies
were filled with wonder and surprise.

The time is ripe to claim the news;
that all is level in God's sight,
that greed is wrong and love is right,
that Christ can put all fear to flight.

Be instant, O Eternal God,
to turn our minds from selfish gain,
to still our hands from causing pain,
to set our minds upon your reign.

--used by permission given from John Thornburg

An Advent Devotional

It is gloriously chilly at the moment! My office has not heat and is not very well sealed, so when the wind blows, I feel it at my desk. Currently, it is 34 degrees outside with a wind chill of 24 and "wintry mix" is beginning! Below you will find an Advent devotional that I wrote for the congregation I serve. The collect at the end is original.



"Celebrating Advent means being able to wait. Waiting, however is a art that our impatient age has forgotten...We must wait for the greatest, most profound, most gentle things in the world; nothing happens in a rush, but only according to the divine laws of germination and growth and becoming." --Dietrich Bonhoeffer

These words, from one of the greatest 20th century theologians, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, are a great reminder to us during this season of Advent that we are called to wait upon the Lord. Wait for the Lord, be strong, take heart!

Prayer: Most gracious and loving God: to you a day is but an instant, you created all things and have remained steadfast with your creation since its beginning. Teach us to wait for you, to watch for you, so that we may not miss your the coming of your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Christmas Albums (CD's, mp3, records, whatever you like)

We all have our holiday rituals, don't we? Today I am enjoying one of my favorite rituals! Every year around this time I pick up a few "holiday" albums to check them out and to try to stay fully engaged in the season. This year, I've picked up three very different albums and have enjoyed them all. Below you will find a super brief review of each one:

1. "What a Night" by Harry Connick, Jr. If you've ever heard any of his other Christmas albums you will recognize the formula immediately. Interesting big-band arrangements, good vocals, fairly sentimental and one or two surprising tracks that provide good theology along with funky music! My two favorites off of this particular offering are "O Come, All Ye Faithful" and "Song for the Hopeful." Both are available on iTunes.

2. "The Dawn of Grace" by Sixpence None the Richer. One of my favorite guilty pleasures: Leigh Nash's voice! It has such character and purity. She doesn't oversing (and could be accused of not using enough breath support but I don't care because I love it). :) Honestly, I can't give too much of a review as I'm only four songs into it but so far, it's delightful! Very sparse and light arrangements, beautiful repertoire choices. Good stuff!

3. "Songs of Joy and Peace" by Yo-Yo Ma. Yo-Yo Ma, along with Branford Marsalis are two of the musicians who inspire me the most! Their ability to collaborate with artists in every style is simply stunning to me. This glorious album features Yo-Yo Ma, Diana Krall, Chris Theile, James Taylor, Joshua Redman, Renee Fleming, Dave Bruebeck, the Assad Family, Alison Krauss, Paquito d'Rivera, Chris Botti, the Silk Roads Ensemble, and several others. What a line-up! I can't recommend this album highly enough! I've about worn it out already!

The Rev. Kathleen Baskin-Ball

The Church lost one of it's most faithful and gifted leaders this week. The Rev. Kathleen Baskin-Ball, a United Methodist minister who was an inspiration to me and thousands of others, lost her two-year battle with cancer on Tuesday. So many others have been able to articulate her loss with such grace and art in their words! Perhaps the best thing I can say is this: St. Irenaeus once said, "the glory of God is a human being fully alive." That, for me, is the perfect description of Kathleen. She was fully alive when she lived and as she died. Christ lived through Kathleen, and continues to do so in the lives of all that she touched. Every time I had the blessing to being around her, she radiated God's love and grace to all she encountered.

I once read a story (I can't remember where) where a Catholic priest told a parishioner, "I don't think God has favorites, but I do think God has special friends." Undoubtedly, Kathleen was a "special friend" of God's!

Rev. Baskin-Ball was an incredibly gifted leader and mentor. I, along with all who knew her, have no doubt she would have been elected bishop and would have excelled in the office. Kathleen is the kind of leader The United Methodist Church needs! The loss of Kathleen's voice and vision leaves a great hole in her local church appointment, Suncreek UMC, the North Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church and the church as a whole.

As I told my congregation on Sunday, there is no replacing someone like Kathleen. We pray and give thanks for the inspiration she gave us in the way she lived her life and the way she so graciously modeled for us how to die with grace and dignity. And we mourn, together. And we hold her family, especially her husband Bill and son Skyler in prayer. And then, we keep going. We keep working on becoming who God made us to be. We keep serving, we keep loving, we keep laughing, we keep trying to bring good news of liberation to those who are oppressed, we keep feeding the hungry, we keep working for justice, we keep introducing people to our Brother and Lord Jesus, we keeping shining light into the dark. It's what we do. It is who we are. It is being faithful.

I am so thankful for the life and witness of Kathleen Baskin-Ball!

Glory be!

If you follow the link below, you will find a very brief video from her memorial service:

http://www.dallasnews.com/video/dallasnews/dmnphoto/index.html?nvid=310992

An Amazing Sunday with Dr. Michael Hawn!

There are really five major weeks in the life of the average church musician. The first is "lessons and carols" week before Christmas. The second is the week of Christmas Eve. The third Holy Week and Easter. The fourth is choir tour week and the fifth is vbs. Of course, there are lots of other big events that occur outside of the afore-mentioned weeks but really, for most of us, those are the big ones.
Yesterday we wrapped up our lessons and carols week at Argyle UMC. I should say that I am using "lessons and carols" as a catch-all phrase for special Advent/Christmas worship events. At our service yesterday we had a truly amazing worship experience with Dr. C. Michael Hawn, chair of the sacred music department at the Perkins School of Theology. I could write many paragraphs on how incredible he is but let me just say that he is truly one of the greats! He is a legend in the field of sacred music, so to have the opportunity to have him lead us in an Advent service was really a gift and a blessing.
He is an incredible song leader and had the congregation singing songs from all over the world quickly and easily. I was especially enthralled with the way he lead the liturgy in the Eucharist! He brought out the inherent drama in the liturgy: it really felt like it mattered! He is such an effective presider that you can just feel the grace, the love, and the "realness" of the sacramental mystery.
Below you will find the order of worship with rubrics:

Thy Kingdom Come:
The World Celebrates the Coming of the Savior

Argyle UMC
December 7, 2008

Welcome, Gathering Songs and Community News

Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus
[Choir hums “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” over a organ pedal point as the following litany is spoken:]

“A Litany of Darkness and Light” (New Zealand)

Voice 1: We wait in the darkness, expectantly, longingly, anxiously,
thoughtfully.

Voice 2: The darkness is our friend. In the darkness of the womb, we have
all been nurtured and protected. In the darkness of the womb, the
Christ-child was made ready for the journey into light.

Voice 1: It is only in the darkness that we can see the splendor of the
universe—blankets of stars of the night, desert peoples find relief
from the cruel relentless heat of the sun.

Voice 2: In the blessed darkness, Mary and Joseph were able to flee with
the infant Jesus to safety in Egypt.

Voice 1: Sometimes, in the solitude of darkness, our fears and concerns, our hopes and our visions rise to the surface. We come face to face with ourselves and with eh road that lies ahead of us.

Voice 2: In that same darkness, we sometimes allow ourselves to wonder
and worry whether the human race is going to make it at all.

[Choir comes to a rest on final note “e” and sustains it.]

Congregation:
We know you are with us, O God, yet we still await your
coming. In the darkness that contains both our hopelessness and our expectancy, we watch for a sign of God’s Hope.
[Organ intro picks up on Stanza 1 of “O come, O come Emmanuel”]

Congregation (Singing):
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns on lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

Lighting of the Advent Candle

Reader 1: The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

Reader 2: The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Reader 1: I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Reader 2: Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let hour heart take courage.

All: Wait for the Lord!

Born to Set Thy People Free

[Drum establishes a steady beat. Voices continue over the drum.]
Prayer of Praise (Iona Community, Scotland)

Voice 1: We have heard about you, God of all power.
You made the world our of kindness, creating order out of confusion; you made each one of us in your own image; your fingerprint is on every soul.

Voice 2: We have hear about you, Jesus Christ: the carpenter who left his tools and trade; the poor man who made others rich; the healer who let himself be wounded; the criminal on whom the soldiers spat not knowing they were fouling the face of God; the savior who died and rose again.

Voices in alternation:
We have heard about you, Holy Spirit. You broke the bonds of every race and nation, to let God speak in every tongue: you made disciples drunk with grace; you converted souls and emptied pockets; you showed how love made all things new and opened the doors to change and freedom.

[Drum continues and song segues]

“Freedom is Coming” South African Freedom Song

From Our Fears and Sings Release Us,
Let Us Find Our Rest in Thee.

Preparation for Prayer “Lord, Have Mercy” Lim Swee Hong

Prayer of Confession A prayer from an ecumenical group (Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Orthodox, Pentecostal) in the former Yugoslavia

Let us seek the forgiveness of God and of each other
for the divisions that have hindered Christian witness:
Lord, we have sinned against you and against each other.
All( Singing): Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy on us.

O Christ, our divisions are contrary to your will,
and have impeded our common witness to you.
All( Singing): Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy on us.

Lord, we have not loved you enough in our sisters and brothers,
created in your image, but different from us.
All( Singing): Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy on us.

Creator God,
stop us wandering in alienation from one another.
Satisfy the longings of our hearts,
grant our rightful requests,
and unite us soon in one holy church
through your Son Jesus Christ
who with you in the communion of the Holy Spirit
lives and reigns eternally.
Amen.

Silent Prayer of Confession
Assurance of Pardon
The Savior of the world, the Refuge of the repentant,
forgives and strengthens all who truly seek his grace.
He accepts you as his sons and daughters,
and sets you free from the bondage of your past.
For Christ died and rose to new life that we might all share his wholeness and abundant life. (Church of South India)

Hear the Good News:
God has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.
(Col. 1:13-14)

[Recorder that I will play introduces the next song.]

(I can't put the printed music here for copyright reasons.)

Response (Choir and Congregation) “Gloria” (Taizé Community, France)

©GIA Publishing. Reprinted by permission under copyright license OneLicense.net#A-714998

Israel’s Strength and Consolation

Psalm 22
Leader: I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord!”

People: Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem.

Leader: To Jerusalem the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord,
as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord.

People: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers.

Leader: For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say,
 “Peace be within you.”

Hymn 2091 (FWS) “The King of Glory Comes” (Israeli Melody) KING OF GLORY

Hope of All the Earth Thou Art

Narration

Hymn 241 “That Boy-Child of Mary” (Malawi) BLANTYRE

Offertory Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel arr. Timothy Bandy

Doxology Tune: Siyahamba

Praise to God from whom all miracles flow.
Praise to God from all creation below.
Praise to God you heavenly hosts from above,
Praise to Father, Son and Spirit of love.

We are praising, praising, praising, praising,
Praise to Father, Son and Spirit of love.

Dear Desire of Every Nation, Joy of Every Longing Heart

An African Affirmation of Faith From the Masai of Kenya

We believe in the one High God,
who out of love created the beautiful world and everything good in it.
God created people and wanted them to be happy in the world.
God loves the world and every nation and tribe on the earth.
We have known this High God in the darkness,
and now we know God in the light.
God promised in the book called the Bible, the word of God,
that all nations and tribes of the world would be saved.

We believe that God made good this promise by sending Jesus Christ, the Son of God, a Jew by tribe,
born poor in a little village,
who left his home and was always on safari doing good,
curing people by the power of God,
teaching about God and people,
showing that the meaning of religion is love.
He was rejected by his people,
tortured and nailed—hands and feet—to a cross and died.
He lay buried, but the hyenas did not find his body,
and on the third day, he rose from the grave.
He ascended to the skies. He is the Lord!

We believe that all our sins are forgiven through him.
All who have faith in him must be sorry for their sins,
be baptized in the Holy Spirit of God,
live the rules of love, and share the bread together in love,
to announce the good news to others until Jesus comes again.
We are waiting for him.
He is alive! He lives! This we believe. Amen!
(Vincent J. Donovan, Christianity Revisited, Orbis Books, 1978, p. 200)





Response Amen Siakudumisa FWS# 2067 South Africa
Amen siakudumisa Amen, we praise your name O Lord
Amen siakudumisa Amen, we praise your name O Lord
Amen bawo; amen bawo Amen, Amen; Amen, Amen!
Amen siakudumisa Amen, we praise your name O Lord.
(C.F. Molefe; as taught by George Mxadana)

EUCHARIST

Hymn 196 Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus HYFRYDOL

Blessing of Peace From a litany based on a traditional Kikuyu form (Kenya)

Let us pray to the God of our forbearers, through Jesus Christ his Son,
in the power of the Holy Spirit.
May the leaders of our churches have wisdom and speak with one voice.
Praise the Lord: peace be with us.
May the leaders of our country rule with maturity and justice.
Praise the Lord: peace be with us.
May the country have tranquility and the people be blessed.
Praise the Lord: peace be with us.
May the people and the flocks and the herds prosper
and be free from illness.
Praise the Lord: peace be with us.
May the fields bear much fruit and the land be fertile.
Praise the Lord: peace be with us.
May the face of our enemies be turned towards peace.
Praise the Lord: peace be with us.
May the path of the world be swept of all danger.
Hallelujah! The Prince of Peace is with us.
(from With All God's People: The New Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, WCC Publications, pp. 112-113)

Congregational Response (Singing):

O come, Desire of nations, bind
All peoples in one heart and mind;
Bid envy, strife, and quarrels cease;

Fill the whole world with heaven’s peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

Postlude

Draft 6.8 for Christmas Eve

Since it is the first full week of Advent, I've decided to post the most recent draft of this year's Christmas Eve service at Argyle UMC. Well, I wish it was going to be at Argyle UMC! We were supposed to be in our new building but that's not going to happen in time for Christmas Eve, so now we are graciously being allowed to use the auditorium at Argyle High School. (We'd love to host it in our sanctuary but we are expecting over 1,000 folks and our sanctuary seats 175 people.)
For obvious reasons the high school is not real keen on the possibility that we might burn down their facility, we are not going to give everyone a candle to raise during the singing of "Silent Night" and since they don't want their carpet stained, we will not be serving communion. So, the trick has been to create a meaningful Christmas Eve service that forgoes those two traditional components.
Since we do not really celebrate Epiphany (which is quite a drag, since Epiphany is the older and, arguably, richer festival) we are mixing in a bit of the "follow the star" kind of motif.
I look forward to any comments that you might have!

Argyle UMC-Christmas Eve Worship
Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
Christmas Eve
5:00 & 7:00 p.m.

PRELUDE: Anastasia Markina or the band

*CALL TO WORSHIP Rev. Joe Stobaugh
Leader: When the time was right, God sent the Son;
Women: sent him and nourished him,
Men: reared him and risked him,
Women: filled him with laughter and tears and compassion,
Men: filled him with anger and love and devotion.

Leader: Unwelcomed child, refugee and runaway,
ALL: CHRIST IS GOD’S OWN SON

Leader: Feeder and teacher, healer and antagonist,
ALL: CHRIST IS GOD’S OWN SON

Leader: Lover of th unlovable,
Toucher of the untouchable,
Forgiver of the unforgivable,
ALL: CHRIST IS GOD’S OWN SON.

Leader: Loved by women, feared by men,
Befriended by the weak, despised by the strong,
Deserted by his listeners, betrayed by his friends;
Bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh,
Writing heven’s pardon over earth’s mistakes
ALL: CHRIST IS GOD’S OWN SON

LeaderL The Word became flesh:
ALL: HE CAME AMONG US, HE WAS ONE OF US . LET US WORSHIP HIM AND PROCLAIM
HIS COMING!
--Iona Community, 20th century, Scotland

*SONG OF GATHERING No. 234 O Come, All Ye Faithful st.1-4 THE PEOPLE

LIGHTING OF THE ADVENT AND CHRIST CANDLES

GREETING/REGISTRATION/THE LORD’S PRAYER Todd Mead

PREPARING TO HEAR THE WORD: evensong band (band stays seated during sermon)

SCRIPTURE: Matthew 2:1-11

MESSAGE Follow the Star Rev. Kory Knott

MUSICAL RESPONSE: Light is Shining by Daniel Doss evensong band & Chancel Choir

PRAYERS FOR THE WORLD Rev. Joe Stobaugh

CONFESSION (from Grace Community in England)

ASSURANCE OF PARDON
(Sing the Last stanza and refraind FROM WE THREE KINGS)

TITHES AND OFFERINGS: Follow the Star by Theorn Kirk Chancel Choir

DOXOLOGY: Something from a Carol

THE CHRISTMAS STORY: Luke 2:8-20 PRE-RECORD IT WITH A CHILD READING THE CHRISTMAS STORY: EMILY YOUNG
(Silent Night underneath it) light’s come down with the focus on the star


*No. 239 Silent Night THE PEOPLE

*SONG OF CELEBRATION No. 246 Joy to the World THE PEOPLE

BENEDICTION Rev. Kory Knott

POSTLUDE Anastasia Markina

Quantum of Solace

This weekend I had the chance to see the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, and wow, I loved it! And I struggle with the fact that I enjoyed it so much. Here's why: I do not buy into the myth of redemptive violence at all. In fact, I am sure it's the main cycle that Jesus broke with his death. There is something compelling, however, about cheering for the good guys and for being glad when the bad guys "get there's." The violence is well shot and impressive, from a film making standpoint, and the character development is much better with the Daniel Craig James Bond, but still, I wish I wasn't so taken by the violence of it.

A quick update

Happy Day after Thanksgiving!

I hope this post finds you well! It's been so long since I last posted it wouldn't surprise me if no one ever reads this!

Life has been crazy full the last few weeks. We've been preparing for Advent at church, I am working on a book, preparing to play at the big lessons and carols service at Perkins, working on the lessons and carols service at Argyle, (not to mention Christmas Eve!), trying to raise two awesome kids and, frankly, just attempting to suck the marrow out of life, if you will.

Last week I was blessed to have the opportunity to say goodbye to a pastor who has been an inspiration to me since I entered the process of becoming (and have since become) a United Methodist Clergy person. Rev. Kathleen Baskin-Ball is an example of what it is to be a faithful person of God and of how powerful and wide-ranging one person's ministry can be. Please take a moment to check out this link:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/112708dnmetbaskinball.4a72148.html

I would invite you to be in prayer for Kathleen, Bill, Skyler, Suncreek UMC, and The United Methodist Church during these days.

God is faithful and God is good.

Drums with KM2

This is our KM2 group, one of the children's music ensembles at Argyle UMC rocking out with a drum circle call to worship this past Sunday!

I forgot my camera!

Yikes! I forgot my camera! Completely left it on the counter at the house. I intended to upload some photo's from the last few days and comment on the pictures but tis' not to be at the moment.

Thursday through Saturday of this week I attended an alt worship conference in OKC that was phenomenal! Jonny Baker (the guru of alt worship in the UK) and Ed Phillips from Candler Seminary in Atlanta were the primary presenters. Alt worship has been an interest to me for some time and so it was very exciting to hear one of the premier practitioners speak on the subject. The gathered body (which included folks from the UK, New Zealand, South Africa and several of the States) also prepared and participated in an alt worship experience that was exceptional in it's participatory nature. My creativity was re-awakened and I'm excited to put some of the theories I learned in play here at Argyle and my work in the conference and the Fellowship. Truly, it was a blessed trip!

Sunday brought it's own set of adventures! At the early service we had a sign-language choir that performed "God Bless America" over a recording of the song. Normally, I'm pretty cautious about mixing church and state, but seeing these children sign these words, coupled with the events of this past week brought me to tears! (In a glorious, good way!) Immediately after the kids signed, the congregation sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness." Once we sang the refrain ("Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness! Morning my morning new mercies I see; all I have needed thy hand hath provided; great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!"), the moment proved to be so overwhelming to me, that I had to leave for a few minutes and collect myself!

Between thinking of the veterans of my generation, and of my parents and grandparents, and great-grandparents generations, and of all that this country has been through, I was so filled with hope and gratitude and the sense of God's goodness and faithfulness that I couldn't contain it anymore!

I haven't experienced this feeling about my country in well, ever. I am proud to see that we can, as a people, peacefully reset. What an incredible witness to the world. It's hasn't been fifty years since the passage of the Voting Rights of 1964 and we have elected a African-American man president! Incredible!

But that wasn't all! In the middle of a wonderful sermon about passion one of the pews in our church gave way! (Photo's to come!) The folks sitting in it were very gracious about the experience and no one, praise God, was hurt!

Think about that! These pews receive such a work out week in and week out that one of them actually broke from overuse! Imagine, if all of the church's in the world had pews and chairs and cushions being worn-out form overuse, imagine the change in the world we could experience! Obviously the next step is taking it out of the walls of the church and into the world but hey, it's a great, if scary, start!

Our KM2 children's music ministry rocked out a drum circle style call to worship at the 11:15 service and then the chancel choir sang Keith Hampton's "Praise His Holy Name" (a black gospel piece). Glory was given to God and the people were sanctified, which is the definition of worship according to the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. What a great week this has been!

What an incredible night!

Regardless of how you feel about the results of this election, you must acknowledge the incredible historical moment we have just witnessed! As I watched Obama's children and Biden's grandchildren embrace just a few moments ago I found myself reflecting on Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream Speech." There is was, on national t.v.! Little black children and little white children, celebrating together! Incredible!!!! Increidble!!! I am inspired by what has just transpired in our country and it makes me incredibly proud to see what America can do!

Election Day!

O.K., so I've written three drafts for this post and this is the one I'm rolling with. It's so generic and vanilla it's pretty boring but because this blog is linked to the church website, I feel that I've got to be careful in what I write for fear of the IRS potentially challenging Argyle UMC's tax-exempt status. Sadly, I am not familiar with the in's and out's of the law enough to know if I could potentially be putting the church at risk by posting who I am voting for. I am not willing to even potentially put this church through that.

I will say, however, that I am excited and nervous all at once for the results from this day to come to the fore! Since I woke up this morning I've been doing all the things I do when I get anxious: overeating, drinking WAY too much coffee, over-checking cnn.com, etc. I truly believe that this election is a once-in-a-lifetime election for my generation and that we have an incredible opportunity to alter the trajectory of our nation today. Please, if you haven't voted today, go do it! There is still time!
Off to handbells! :)

Worship Planning

One of the best aspects of my job is worship planning. I love it! The opportunity to create services that worship God and connect God and God's people is usually a weekly blessing to me. Today has proved no different. I spent most of the morning working on two (of four) of the Christmas Eve services for this year. Once I finalize the liturgy I will post it on the blog. I am looking forward to this year's services!

A word from Rainer Maria Rilke

What a lovely morning! It's cool outside but there's not a cloud in the sky! Stunningly beautiful! As I am finishing my espresso and preparing to take Ellie to the park for a little dad/daughter time I came across this quote from the Poet Rilke, which perfectly describes the season for me!

"Lord, it is time. the summer was too long. Lay your shadow on the sundials now, and through the meadow let the winds throng."

Amen and amen!

I love Thursday's!

I love Thursday's! Wednesday (the most stressful day of the week for me) is behind me and I get a chance to wrap up loose ends before the weekend comes and even get ahead a bit! Today is a glorious Thursday! A very generous church member gave a gift for some new handbells, the weather is nice and cool and business is getting taken care of! Truly, a beautiful day!

The Great Rob Jackson

Hello friends!
I have made a serious error and I hope to correct it at this time. Somehow, I missed listing one of the great blogs on my "blogs I read list." And by great, I mean one of the greatest blogs in the history of blogs. If you are looking for (arguably) the funniest blog of all time, you need to look no further than the blog NoFrownsNation kept by the great Rob Jackson.

http://www.nofrowns.net/nation/

Do yourself a favor and go there right now!!!!

Smiling Sam!

I love this picture of Sam smiling! Makes my day!

Whew...

Hey there!
Hope you are doing well! It's been an interesting 10 days since I last posted. I gotten this week and a half long upper respiratory infection that is just knocking me over! Up until I had kids I very rarely got sick but wow, how that has changed!!! I just want to sleep all the time, know the feeling? Uh, oh, my office is next to the sanctuary and my daughter's class is walking by...whew, safe! Ellie comes to school hear at the church three days a week and it is so cool to be able to bring my daughter to work with me three days a week! She is really into listening to the blues on the way to the school. Like father, like daughter, I suppose!

The Beauty of Aspens

This photograph was taken by my sister from outside of her home in Colorado. If you'd like, I'd invite you to just appreciate the beauty that God has given us! Thanks for the Aspen's!!!

The Collar

I don't often wear my clerical collar, which is funny, because I have a strong opinion about collars. In a perfect world, I think all clergy should wear their collars, and here is why: as servants of God, we should be available to serve all of God's children, whether they are members of our local flock or not. For example, if you are walking down the street and find yourself in need of a law enforcement officer, you wouldn't be able to find a law enforcement officer unless they are wearing their uniform, unless you happened to have a relationship with that person from another context. When I would wear my collar in San Antonio I got stopped all of the time by folks who needed someone to talk to. Many less-enlightened Methodists (my own tribe) see the collar as purely a "Catholic thing" and they fail to realize that the collar is used by pastors in all of the mainline denominations, in addition to the Catholic church.
The collar also serves as a very valuable reminder to me of whose I am and of the work I am called to do but it does tend to freak out those who don't understand it's function and tradition.

October's always make me sleepy

I love October! When else in the year do you have the baseball playoffs, the NFL, basketball training camps, and the opening of hockey season? Nowhere, I tell you! I love all of those sports and follow hockey and the NFL the closest but baseball is my first love. I will never forget my first professional game. My dad took me to see the Denver Zephyers (now they are known as the New Orleans Zephyers) in Mile High Stadium. It was such a blast!
Nothing, however, could compare to my first major league game! My dad (there is a trend here) took me to Fenway Park in Boston to see the Red Sox: it was incredible! Seeing that oasis of green in the middle of the city was like looking into heaven for a second-grader! The whole experience was incredible, from the walk up Yawkey Way, to the Fenway Franks, the Monster, and of course, the Red Sox. i have been a Sox fan ever since! It was a bad team to follow for many years! They always found a way to break your heart. The Bill Buckner fiasco was the first big one that I remember. But, my, how things change!
And so, it's October again, the leaves are just starting to turn and, by Texas standards, it's beginning to cool off. The Sox are doing very well. They had a chance to close out the Angels last night but couldn't get it done. Tonight, they've got another chance. I look forward to another game tonight and all that comes with post-season baseball: lots of drama and little sleep!
Go Sox!

Two expressions

Here we are, tomorrow is (well, given the time I should say that today) the last day of September. It's been a fruitful and crazy month in my life. How have things been for you? This month my son Sam was baptized, we had a very cool Soul Cafe service at the church that involved Rev. Jackson Henry of Nashville, Dr. Michael Hawn, Ross Pederson, Kristin Stilley and myself, I officiated a wedding in New York, seen one of my friends lives implode in a very public way, hosted three different families from around the country in our home at various points, learned a ton of new music, attended the Dallas Stars training camp for a day, started a new children's choir program, rejoiced in my young family (life with a two and a half year old and a two month old is interesting!) and cantored the service celebrating the installation of our new bishop while still doing everything else that one does as a pastor and musician.

While all of this has been rewarding, I have to say it has left me, well, tired.

The feeling is that strange kind of tired you get that you can't shake, even after a low-key day or two.

Please don't read this as a complaint: I am thrilled to do all of these things. I just wonder sometimes about priorities and opportunity cost, and Sabbath and faithfulness. Know what I mean?

So, that leads me to these wonderful two expressions that I am hoping to incorporate as guiding statements this month.

The first expression i want to share with you I learned this weekend from the incredible Rev. Diana Holbert and it is this:

"Breathe Peace."

Isn't that lovely? I hope that I can begin to breathe peace in my own life and into the lives of others as well. If we all took a turn at that in October, the world would be transformed.

The second expression is one that I was reminded of by way of a Matisyahu song that was on Ovation TV. The phrase comes (at least my initial exposure to it) from a album by Donald Lawrence called "I Speak LIfe."

To "Speak Life." God, I want to do that! In the midst of all of the nonsense and fear and hate that we all come across in this world, as screwed up and broken as this thing is at times, what a gift it would be to Breathe Peace and Speak Life to the world.

Breathe Peace...Speak Life

I'm gonna roll with that this month, want to try it with me?

Reflections for the near passing of a different storm

Jeez, September has been crazy full! I can't believe the last time I posted was September 3rd! It's not from lack of desire but rather my lack of posts has been from lack of time. Between a jazz soul cafe, starting two new choirs, kicking all of the old ones off, officiating a wedding in New York, doing my FUMMWA thing, having a eight week old and doing some conference stuff, the month has passed me by! I am going to try to "faith" the practice of posting a bit more!
Have a great day!

Morning Reflections from a Storm

"God is good! All the time! All the time, God is good!'

I use this refrain, well, all the time. Whether starting a worship service, with a choir, among friends, etc., the staff at my church have begun to associate this phrase (which did not have its genesis with me by any stretch of the imagination) with me because I use frequently. This morning, I was struck by (to use a phrase from Charlie Hall, which he borrowed from someone else) the phrase "the bright sadness" in regards to the aforementioned liturgical piece. Sometimes, it's an easy thing to say, other times, it's an act of faith to proclaim it!

This morning I enjoyed a wonderful cup of hot coffee sitting in my backyard in beautiful, overcast, cool weather, while praying the Office of the Dawn. The liturgy had, as usual, several interesting intersections with what is going on in this part of the world lately. How can we affirm the statement, "God is good all the time!" in the midst of hurricanes and poverty, and war? On the face of it, it's pretty tough to do, as a Christian, unless you have the Christian hope alive in you. Unless you have the hope that comes from knowing that Jesus is the true Lord of Creation, that in his life, death, and resurrection Jesus conquered death and inaugurated the reclamation project that is the Kingdom of God and that God is at work, with us, in bringing about the new heaven and the new earth that God has promised as found in Revelation 21 and 22. Without that hope, Christian faith doesn't make a lot of sense, at least not for me. I wonder, perhaps, reconciliation project is a more appropriate phrase than reclamation project?

As I prayed outside this morning, the winds were swirling and you could see the rotation of the bands from Gustav overhead. The trees and our windchimes were very noisy, the neighbors had things being knocked around their patios. All of these sounds and sensations were juxtaposed with the words from the office.
The opening line, chanted out loud, sounded more like a statement of faith and a challenge in this setting: Hallelujah! How good it is to sing praises to our God! How pleasant it is to honor him with praise!

Which was followed with: My soul waits for the Lord, more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.

In the midst of the challenges in this life, God is at work! The already-not-yet-ness of the Kingdom of God on full display!

The liturgy continued with two stanza's from Charles Wesley's "Rejoice, the Lord is King."

Rejoice, the Lord is King!
Your Lord and King adore;
mortals, give thanks and sing,
and triumph evermore.
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice;
rejoice; again I say, rejoice!

Jesus the Savior reigns,
the God of truth and love;
when he had purged our stains,
he took his seat above.
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice;
rejoice, again I say, rejoice.

In the midst of the storms of life (both literal and figurative) Jesus the Savior reigns! Sometimes, it's easy for me to lose that in the swirling winds of life. Do you struggle with that from time to time?

Penultimately, here is the small verse from this morning's office, which speaks yet again to what God is doing!
"Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you together; yea, I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the Lord."
Zephaniah 3:19-20

Hello!!!!!! Liturgy and life, intersecting, informing, and shining light on each other!

Do you see it?

It is beautiful.

May you receive this blessing today, which also comes from the office: May the Lord bless us and keep us and cause His face to shine upon us from this day forth and forever more. Amen.

Some random thoughts on a Tuesday night...

Howdy! I hope life is treating you well! It's been a while since I've posted so here's some random thoughts...
1. Sam is getting baptized on Sunday, which is awesome!
2. The remnants of Hurricane Gustav are coming through the North Texas area today and it's quite windy! Being able to actually see the rain bands has been intense! Our skylight is making some crazy noise and we are hundreds of miles away from the gulf! Incredible!
3. Speaking of Gustav, it's hard to imagine that 1/2 of Louisiana doesn't have power, but it's true.
4. I have been listening to the new Charlie Hall album and am really enjoying it. The album has a wonderful tune called "mystery" that uses liturgy from the Book of Common Prayer.
5. It's sad to see protestors get gassed.
6. I am feeling very sorry for Sarah Palin's daughter. It must be a very, very difficult for their family.
7. I am watching the RNC convention. It's mildly interesting. I thought the Rabbi who gave the benediction today, by actually endorsing John McCain in his prayer, is putting his congregation dangerously close to being checked-out by the IRS.
8. If I had to vote for a Republican, I'd vote for McCain.
9. This weekend I am looking forward to seeing the Counting Crows, which is going to be sweet!
All right, it's time to go to bed! These are interesting times, eh?

An inspiring moment for my daughter!

Let me first say, wow, what a night for Methodists! Hillary Clinton gave a wonderful speech at tonight's Democratic convention and two Methodist pastors from Aurora, Colorado (where I lived for five years as a kid) gave the benediction. I couldn't believe how moved I was by Hilary's speech. I have always been a big fan and have read all of her books but she hit a home-run tonight! I was so struck by what women like HIllary Clinton have done for the future of my daughter, Eleanor Grace. Incredible!!!! It's days like this I believe that I can truly tell my daughter that she really can be whatever she wants to be!

Donald Miller gives the benediction at the Democratic National Convention

Hi Friends!
I was so shocked/excited to see on CSPAN (yes, I admit it, I am keeping an eye on the convention via CSPAN) when Donald Miller, the author of "Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Spirituality" was giving the benediction tonight! As usual, he prayed eloquently and simply. I have read every thing he has published and find it all to be of value! I would commend him to you, if you have yet to read his work. Below you will find the text of his benediction taken from his website.

"Father God,
This week, as the world looks on, help the leaders in this room create a civil dialogue about our future.
We need you, God, as individuals and also as a nation.
We need you to protect us from our enemies, but also from ourselves, because we are easily tempted toward apathy.
Give us a passion to advance opportunities for the least of these, for widows and orphans, for single moms and children whose fathers have left.
Give us the eyes to see them, and the ears to hear them, and hands willing to serve them.
Help us serve people, not just causes. And stand up to specific injustices rather than vague notions.
Give those in this room who have power, along with those who will meet next week, the courage to work together to finally provide health care to those who don’t have any, and a living wage so families can thrive rather than struggle.
Hep us figure out how to pay teachers what they deserve and give children an equal opportunity to get a college education.
Help us figure out the balance between economic opportunity and corporate gluttony.
We have tried to solve these problems ourselves but they are still there. We need your help.
Father, will you restore our moral standing in the world.
A lot of people don’t like us but that’s because they don’t know the heart of the average American.
Will you give us favor and forgiveness, along with our allies around the world.
Help us be an example of humility and strength once again.
Lastly, father, unify us.
Even in our diversity help us see how much we have in common.
And unify us not just in our ideas and in our sentiments—but in our actions, as we look around and figure out something we can do to help create an America even greater than the one we have come to cherish.
God we know that you are good.
Thank you for blessing us in so many ways as Americans.
I make these requests in the name of your son, Jesus, who gave his own life against the forces of injustice.
Let Him be our example.
Amen."

N.T. Wright, a twist on an ancient spiritual discipline, and other random thoughts...

Yup, it's been a while! I hope all is well!
Here comes another James Joyce-like post!

Stream-of-consciousness for Tuesday morning:

Being able to sleep last night for more than two hours (like I have the previous two nights) has been very invigorating!

A wonderful couple of church members brought by dinner for us a few nights ago and a pound of Ruta Maya coffee, which is nearly gone. It's so good! Makes me miss one of my favorite San Antonio hangs and all that came with it! (The SA Ruta Maya, at least the downtown location, is a converted "gentleman's bar." Wild atmosphere, great coffee, and free wifi!)

I am listening to "SMV" a new album featuring the three greatest living electric bassists: Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller, and Victor Wooten. Lot's of chops!

It is raining and in the 80's outside: what a blessing for Texas in August!

I finished reading N.T. Wright's "Surprised by Hope" this morning and it is really a wonderful work of theology. Wright gives a beautiful account of the resurrection and how it should affect our daily lives and the mission of the church. I would highly recommend it!

A few days before Sam was born I read "The Shack." Who knew it would be a summer of borderline orthodox reading? I just started Wright's "Why Christianity Makes Sense" which is written for a non-academic, non-Christian audience, and it looks to be just as thought provoking. I am thankful for Marcus Borg for many things, one of them being an introduction to Wright!

Last night when I was rocking Sam at 2:45 I entered into a spiritual discipline that I haven't observed in a while: reciting the Eastern Orthodox "Jesus Prayer" with an orthodox prayer rope. It is a wonderful discipline to focus one's prayers. If you are interested in exploring this practice more, let me know and we can chat about it!

Well, back to the proverbial mines! Have a great rest of the day and may you experience God's grace in new ways today!

The Mission of the Church

I am nearly finished with N.T. Wright's "Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church." The scholarship is tremendous and Wright's application to the church has the potential to shift some paradigms! At least, that's my hope.

Wright claims that, in light of God's Kingdom project (i.e. the new heaven and new earth that we read about in Revelation 21 & 22 and Jesus' main mission of announcing and inaugurating the Kingdom of God) that the church's work is this: justice, beauty, and evangelism.

I love it! Justice, beauty, and evangelism. The framework that Wright is proposing advances us beyond the old liberal/conservative, evangelism vs. social gospel debates of the last 150 years. He takes the gospel imperatives found in both Matthew 25 and Matthew 28 (some of us have had this conversation before!) and combines them into a clarion call for the church.

Justice, beauty, and evangelism.

Glorious!

There is so much more to write but I've got to set-up a computer w/pictures for a funeral.

I very much want to hear what you think about this!

Issac Hayes has died

The man was a legend! Yes, he wrote the theme to "Shaft" and was the voice of Chef on "South Park" but perhaps his greatest legacy was his incredible work as an arranger/composer at Stax Records in the 60's-70's. So many hits, so many cool sounds! 65 was, in fact, to early!

Speaking of Celebrating Life!!!

Check out these two! Think Ellie likes being a big sister????

A moment of potentially horrible irony...

In addition to spending some quality time with my family I am also leading the music for a revival in Royse City, Texas this week. The preacher, the excellent John McLarty of Faith UMC, Corinth, Texas, asked for tonight's "Song of Reflection" to be John Mayer's "Say." I'm a big John Mayer fan so I wanted to learn the song any way! The first time I heard it I was positive that the opening lick was on a ukulele but I had managed to convince myself yesterday that it might actually be a guitar. Well, a little bit of research later, it turns out my initial impression was correct, well, almost, anyway. I tried to replicate it on my ukulele but quickly discovered it's a six-string ukulele (mine's a four) that's playing the intro! So much for playing it on my little uke!

Anyway (sorry about chasing that rabbit) the song "Say" was written by John Mayer for the lovely film, "The Bucket List." As I'm working on the tune, my mother-in-law informs me that Morgan Freeman (star, along with Jack Nicholson, in "The Bucket List" which is all about living life to the fullest) has been in a terrible car accident and is in the hospital in Memphis.

Life is fleeting: it is wise to celebrate our common lives together, and God's creation, while we are here together, eh?