Why are we participating in this? 

Because In our world today… 

• Over 30 million people worldwide are infected with HIV/AIDS
• In the year 2007, 2.5 million more people became infected with HIV/AIDS
• As of the year 2005, 15.2 million children were orphaned around the world because of HIV/AIDS

But we’re also participating fora  deeper reason… Because we believe that as a community of people who are devoted to becoming deeply committed followers of Jesus, it is not acceptable to God for us to turn a blind eye to the suffering of our world. And if these numbers tell us anything, they are a vivid reminder of the suffering that AIDS is causing around the world. 

John Wesley said it this way. “The World is my Parish.” Now, the language of “the parish” is not something you probably hear everyday. I had an idea of what it meant, but I decided to look the word up anyway. What I found was, “a small administrative district typically having its own church and a priest or pastor,” and consulting the Thesaurus yielded a similar word that we do use on a consistent basis; a community. 

Perhaps this is just another example of how Wesley was ahead of his time, or an insight into the unique place we are in the history of our world today. What I mean by that is this. Today, we truly do live in a global community, and as participants in that global community we have the ability to bring about positive change on a scale unprecedented in the history of humanity. 

Amazingly enough, it is how God has always seen the world, and I believe the invitation of faith encourages us to see it the same. The great social upheaval that is happening in Africa because of AIDS today may be happening on the other side of the world… but it’s still my world… and even more importantly, it’s still God’s world. 

And because God cares about the world, I believe followers of Jesus should as well. 

I hope to see you on Saturday.

It was a historic night in America as the first African-American was elected as President of the United States. I was deeply moved by the outpouring of emotion and felt like both candidates gave excellent speeches last night as this incredibly long election season finally came to a close. 

Today I thought I would share what our Senior Pastor wrote to our congregation today. 

I was born in 1953 when Dwight D. Eisenhower was president.  He was newly elected after leading the Allied Forces during World War II.  I was in Mrs. Tanamachie’s 5th grade class when she came into the class room with tears in her eyes to tell us that John F. Kennedy had been shot.  In high school, during the height of the Vietnam War, it was shocking when the President from Texas, Lyndon B. Johnson, announced that he would not run for a second term even though he won his first election by a landslide. It was a scary time as the Vietnam War continued to escalate and my brother and I were only a couple of years from facing the draft.  I can still remember Richard Nixon getting on the helicopter with arms raised in a singular gesture he often used after his resignation as President. I still remember Jimmy Carter as president who was broken by high inflation and the Iran hostage crisis.  I have an image of Ronald Reagan standing before the Berlin Wall proclaiming, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”  I believe many of us can still see in our minds George Bush standing at Ground Zero after 9/11 surrounded by firefighters and police seeking to inspire a nation as, together, we entered uncharted waters after an awful terrorist attack on American soil. 

This morning we awaken to a newly elected President, Barack Obama.  What do I think?

America began a great journey more than two centuries ago; a journey called democracy — democratic ideals based in freedom.  When the call came from many to make George Washington king or at least allow him to be president for life, this magnanimous hero said no.  The people of this new country would decide its most powerful leader by giving every American the right to vote, regardless of economic class, rank, place in society, or education.  It was an amazing thing to have a nation “by the people and for the people.”  Most of the world felt that the common people could not decide for themselves much less rule themselves.  They waited for democracy to fail. 

But the Christian ideals that supported so much of American ideals, rejected the elitism of most of the world and celebrated the intrinsic value of every man.  During this season the major blot on this amazing (and I believe God wrought and God inspired American dream) was slavery, which I believe was and still is (they say there are still more than 20 million slaves in the world) a stench in the nostrils of God.  Even after slavery was abolished at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives in the Civil war, racism continued. Even though African Americans were officially given the right to vote in 1871, it took the 1965 Voting Rights Act to actually make it happen (democracy at work).

When a soldier fights for freedom, whether it be on the beaches of Normandy, the hills around Gettysburg, the heights of Bunker Hill, or on the road between Basra and Baghdad, aren’t they fighting for men, women, young, old, poor, rich, white, black, Hispanic, educated, uneducated, people of many different opinions, yet all Americans, having the right to choose their president?  In a sacred way, these men and women (who we will celebrate at a special Veteran’s Day Service, November 11^th at 7:00 p.m. in our Sanctuary) fought for Barack Obama to be President, or whoever Americans chose to vote for, have voted for in the past, and will vote for in the future.  

It’s the unique American way, a way with a touch of Divinity that celebrates the spark of God’s love for everyone.

Even though sometimes those I vote for win the election and sometimes those I vote for lose. Even though our leaders sometimes fail us and other times rise to the occasion, I am proud to be an American.  Not because of who our president is, but because we have a sacred freedom to choose our presidents. Just as we have a sacred freedom to choose Christ and the way of grace in which He calls us to live.

I am a Christian, first and foremost.  My patriotism extends from my faith with  a great amount of love for a country I believe has and does so much good and a nation I also believe God can still use for a special purpose. I will pray for our new president as I prayed for our last one and have for all our previous presidents. I will struggle to teach people to embrace Christian values, give their hearts to Christ, love their neighbor, grow in Christ centered living, reach out to the least, the last, and the lost, embrace the Jesus Christ in courage and faith, and encounter Biblical faith.  

I will seek to be a blessing to my wife, my children, my grandchildren, my church, each of you, and the America God has given me to love.  May God bless each of us. May He use our Church to do great things in our world. May America grow in greatness and positive impact in our world, and may God bless, with great wisdom, the President-Elect, Barack Obama. 

Dan’s book wasn’t on the list I published because I have been so familiar with Dan’s work and even attended a seminar he did on the subject several years ago as he was preparing to write the book. But the subject grabbed my attention and since it was a gift from my former pastor for graduation, I thought I would pick that up. 

The book is a really interesting collection that Dan has put together of his interaction with non-Christians. The idea for the book was born out hundreds of conversations that Dan had with non-Christians in which they consistently expressed a deep respect and admiration for Jesus, but a very strong negative reaction to the church and other forms of institutional Christianity.

I should wrap up my reading this week, and I plan on dedicating all my posts this week to some reflections from this book. 

If you’d like to get a copy of the book, here is the Amazon link. 

For more info, the publisher has setup this website with some other resources available for teaching the book.

Forgive us that they died so young because we were too unimaginative, too imperious, too indifferent, or just too late to think of better ways than warfare to conduct the business of the world. Gratefully, we remember the generosity that prompted them to share the last of their rations, the last pair of dry socks, to share in the course of one hour in the foxhole more than most of us care to share with one another in a lifetime. And we recall the courage that made more than one of them fall on the grenade there was no time to throw back.

Grant, O God, that they may not have died in vain. May we draw new vigor from past tragedy. Buttress our instincts for peace, sorely beleaguered. Save us from justifications invented to make us look noble, grand and righteous and from blanket solutions to messy, detailed problems.

Give us the vision to see that those nations that gave the most to their generals and least to their poor were, throughout all history, the first to fall. Most of all, give us the vision to see that the world is now too dangerous for anything but truth, too small for anything but love. Through Jesus Christ our Savior, who became what we are to make us what he is.

Amen.

By William Sloane Coffin, Jr.

First, he is accused of taking performance enhancing drugs. He denies this accusation but it is later revealed that his wife [and his best friend] have both taken these drugs. Now, he is accused of having an affair with Mindy McCready dating back to when the country singer was 15.

And then yesterday, Roger Clemens issues a statement in which he says, “I need to say that I have made many mistakes in my personal life for which I am sorry.” Of course, he also, in the same statement, denies any and all allegations that have been made. He said, “I realize that many people want me to simply confess and apologize for the conduct that I have been accused of, but I cannot confess to, nor apologize for, things I did not do.”

So, I’m really confused. What exactly is Roger apologizing for if all of the accusations made against him are false? Again and again it seems that Roger’s explanation just doesn’t add up, and it reminds me of being a kid and seeing a small lie that you told your parents blossom into something something so outrageous that eventually you had to confess to your web of deception. I don’t know if Roger is guilty of any or all of what others have said Roger is done, but regardless of what actually happened, he continues to communicate in a way that seems to damage his integrity.

What intrigued me about the entire production was the final song that was performed during the show. The song selection was “Shout to the Lord,” a contemporary praise song written by Darlene Zschech in 1993 and published by Hillsong Music Australia. From what I can tell, the song was sung in it’s original form except for the first line which was changed from, “My Jesus, My Savior,” to “My Shepherd, My Savior.”

What is interesting to me about the song selection isn’t that they changed the first line, though I am sure there will be many Christian groups up in arms about that and claiming that the church is now under persecution because a TV show decided not to use the word Jesus. [I'm being a bit sarcastic by the way] What is interesting to me is that someone made the connection between the work of raising money for the “least, the last and the lost” all over the world and this song. Someone, and since it made into the final slot of the show, we might say a whole lot of someone’s, decided that these two pieces somehow fit together.

If you’re a follower of Jesus seeking to live out that calling in your life, I think that should intrigue you. If you, like me, believe we are living in a world that is increasingly dissatisfied with where the church is today and perhaps looking other places for answers, I think that should intrigue you… That even in a world that some are describing as “post-Christian” there is a widely held belief that God cares about the suffering in our world and God somehow values the experience of helping and supporting those who are hurting in our world.

What am I getting at? Last night, hundreds of millions of dollars were raised, an audience of who knows how many million were watching, a connection was made between the act of giving and God, who we believe is the great Giver, and no one thought that was strange. Why? Because there is still a small light of truth that says to a great many people that in giving away your life, you find yours… that in laying down your life…

That light might seem dim, and the understanding of that truth may be minimal, but it’s a place to begin… And it’s a place where I must say as a person of faith, “I see God here.”

For I believe, and I hope you join with me in this idea, that everyone person who watched, every person who gave, and every person who experienced last night’s show… God is working in their life. God’s grace is actively pursuing their hearts… And the work of my life, the work of the church is to bring revelation to that small light of faith, hope and love that is already burning in their life.

UPDATE: Idol Gives Back has raised approximately 60 million dollars.

If you stand in front of the Supreme Court, to your back is the Capitol, to your right is the Library of Congress, and to your left is the only non-governmental building on the square: The United Methodist Building which houses our Board of Church and Society. It was built about the same time as the Supreme Court building and is a reflection of our church’s belief that faithful Christians should be salt and light influencing our nation and world; seeing that building made me proud to be a United Methodist. Inside on its walls is the Social Creed of our church as it was originally adopted in 1908. Methodists were the first denomination in America to adopt a social creed to go alongside the historic theological creeds of the church. It called for equal rights and complete justice for all people, for safe working conditions, an end to child labor, and for all of society to live by Christ’s Golden Rule.

I don’t know what Rob has up his sleeve next. Perhaps a major motion picture? Sounds ridiculous at first, but maybe not. I just find it absolutely fascinating the way in which he is blending genres and having such a major impact. That being said, after last night, I thought to myself, “He’s just getting warmed up.”