So I don't feel like writing new thoughts down today because I've been working all day. Instead, I'll share the sermon I wrote last week.

It comes from

1 Kings 17:8-24
Galatians 1:11-24
and Luke 7:11-17

I don't feel like copying those texts in, or making links, but the sermon really does make more sense if you read them first. So, if you put the texts in Google, then you will find links to the text. Forgive my lazyness.

Here it is:

What does hopeless look like?

What does hopeless look like?

Hopeless looks like a widow, saying, "I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die." (from the Kings story)

Hopeless looks like a preacher so sure of himself that he goes as far as to kill anyone who disagrees with him. (Paul, the author of Galatians)

Hopeless looks like a widow's only son, being carried out of the city, dead. (Luke story)

Hopeless looks like an abused kid, who never learns how to love.

Hopeless looks like a mental hospital closed, with all its patients left on their own.

Hopeless looks like a chronic illness, and a lifetime of being cared for.

Hopeless looks like Christians shouting at the people they are supposed to love.

Hopeless looks like a world where over half of the people live on less than $2 a day.

Hopeless looks like an entire generation of Africans lost to AIDS.

Hopeless looks like environmental devastation, spiraling out of control.

Hopeless looks like war.

What does hopeless look like to you?

Write it down. Just for yourself. Name it.

Where have people given up?

Do you see hopelessness on a global scale? Where?

What about in our city?

What about in your family?

What about you?

Is there an addiction that you cannot break?

A fear you cannot defeat?

A sadness that will not pass?



Don't you wish there was a formula to make it all better?

Wouldn't it be nice if there were three simple steps?

We know that often our efforts aren't enough.

But even when we have given up hope, God is not done.

God changes murderous people.

God changes selfish people.

God feeds widows and prophets both.

God heals sick people.

God comforts lonely people.

God raises dead people.

God is redeeming the whole world.

And God sends healed people back into the world.

So that no widow goes hungry.

So that God might be revealed.

Even among those for whom we had given up hope.

Especially among those for whom we had given up hope.

And then people see how good God is.

And someday,

there will be no more wars

or poverty

or illness

or hunger.

Someday, there won't even be any more death.

The whole world will be made right.

and we won't even know what hopeless means,

because our being will be taken up in the love of God.


Until then, we pray, and wait, and work, and hope--even in the situations where there seems to be no hope.



Then we prayed for those situations.

Not my normal style--I normally joke more and have more interaction, but it seemed to come out ok, doing something a bit more meditative.

I'll get back to writing more normal posts later.

Ft. Niagara: It was a fort in a strategic location that nobody could ever hold. Maybe it wasn't so strategic, eh?

Visit this place if you like forts. Go somewhere else if you don't.

As for the falls, I didn't even get out of the car. I circled while my wife and her parents looked. I'm cheap, and that kept me from paying for parking. I'll probably park next weekend when I take my parents.

My brain is kind of scattered right now, so here are some unconnected (or barely connected) thoughts:

-Idiocracy is a good movie. Rent it and laugh/cry hard.

-The art festival was great, but it would have been better with music. And yes, it is a lousy place to take a dog.

-While I love my church, I hate meetings. Tonight is a meeting night.

-I like the General Store on Lexington. Cheap ice cream cannot be beat.

-Wife and I played Othello today. The man tried to keep me down, but black came out ahead this time!

-Seared fish tastes good. That's what I had for dinner when father-in law was buying.

-I play ultimate tomorrow. That's good. Any other players on Estrip?

Time to do tourist stuff. My wife's parents are visiting, so tomorrow we visit Ft. Niagara (father in law is all about history stuff) and the falls. I cook for them tomorrow, too.

We cooked out today. If anyone is good at grilling, we can use the help. We couldn't get the stuff burning, and then it didn't stay hot enough to cook the chicken. And then the storm came. The oven rescued us.

Looking forward to the art festival. (And to Monday, which is unusual)

Two last comments: I am totally addicted to estrip--what a great idea!

And yes, the creation science museum is a TOTAL waste. Even if it represented the faith OR science well (it fails on both counts), most of the exhibits also seem to be boring, static posters! I know that they didn't blow all the money on research--you can get all of the stuff they shared from fundamentalist websites!

and now I am rambling, but if anybody wants to know the Biblical argument against creationism, just let me know.

I like her thinking.

Ok. For those of you who are tired of all of this religious stuff, sorry if I got it started.

Now, full disclosure disclaimers:

1. While I profess to be a Christian, and even find employment as a minister, please do not assume that I am the person that is from your family, or on tv, or shouting at you at a march. There are a lot of people that call themselves Christian, and a lot of them are messed up.

2. While I do not particularly like being linked to all these folks that give me a bad name, I will not deny them. They are my family. It's a screwed up family, yes, but I am one of us.

3. As a Christian, that means two things. One, I can work to make a church that is very much unfaithful and hurtful, more faithful and less hurtful. Two, I can apologize on behalf of my brothers and sisters. We are supposed to love you to the point of giving up our lives, and we often we fail miserably. There are plenty more things that I could apologize for, but you get the point.

4. I will share my faith with a person who is open to it. I will even admit that I would be happy if you chose to follow my faith. This is not because I see you as worthless until you believe what I do. It is because my faith teaches me to love my neighbor, and I cannot love you without sharing who I am. That being said, I will always do my best to listen, to understand, and to respect. I never want to coerce or threaten (I especially don't want to do this on behalf of God).

Ok, enough disclaimers for now.

At pride fest, I bought a bumper sticker that had a Ghandi quote on it. It said, "Your Jesus I like. Your Christians I do not like. So unlike your Jesus."

I, too, despite plenty of bad experiences with Christians (yes, it happens to us Christians, too--probably more because we always find each other!) I still really like Jesus.

Jesus spent most of his time talking about the Kingdom of God. Most people assume that this means that he was talking about heaven, but he said that it was near. When he taught his followers to pray, "Thy Kingdom come . . . on earth, as it is in heaven," it seems to me that he was concerned about the here and now.

Jesus mostly talked about the Kingdom in stories. (I know, quite different from the propositional, black/white thinking that most Christians present.) These stories call for radical love--to the point of self-sacrifice--and a re-oredering of values. "The last are first and the first are last" is a good summary, but the amazing thing about these stories is that I have thought about them for most of my life, and I still can't really wrap my mind around them. Once I thought that I could use them against other people, but now I think that God mostly uses them to change me.

Anyway, this Kingdom thing, it's powerful. It's other-worldly, but its more this-worldly. I'll describe, for now the Kingdom and the way we live by amending the quote from (e:uncutsaniflush)'s post:

We (Chrstians) are called to loves our fellow, AND God. Loving God helps us love people that sometimes give us no other reason to love them. We also believe that heaven is something for which we should work now - here on earth for all people together to enjoy. We also believe, however, that we cannot do that on our own. Christ showed us how to live in such a way to create that heaven, and his Spirit empowers us to make such a bold attempt

We needs, and find it through prayer (among other practices). Our inner conviction, and strength to meet life, to grapple with it, to subdue it and enjoy it is severely lacking, or worse, misguided when we try to make it on our own.

We believe that knowledge of ourselves and a knowledge of our fellows is limited by our perspective. We know ourselves AND our fellows better when we pay attention to the Spiritual. A life of fulfillment is a gift from God.

We seek to know ourselves and our fellows AND to know God. We believe in building the hospital AND the church. We believes that a deed must be done AND a prayer said. Both support each other. We, like the atheist, also strive for involvement in life and not escape into death, but we no longer fear death, for we believe it does not have the last word. We also want disease conquered, poverty vanquished, war eliminated. We wants people to understand and love each other.

We also want an ethical way of life, but find that we cannot accomplish it on our own.

We also believe that we are our brother's keepers; and are keepers of our own lives; that we are responsible persons and the job is here and the time is now."


So, if you compare this with (e:uncutsaniflush)'s post, you'll find that a lot of the believer's values are similar to the atheists. I'll admit, many atheists do a better job of behaving morally than many Christians. I guess I just can't deny the spiritual realities that I have experienced.

I've got more to say, but I am tired, and my wife wants to use the computer.

Thanks again for the welcome. Again, please remember that I am not trying to offend. If this bugs you, please just don't read my posts.

More later. . .